Tell HN: Salary data is for sale • Hacker News Board

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#191

Post by divbzero » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:52 AM UTC

BeefySwain wrote: post #91

BeefySwain wrote: post #21

NOTE: It is possible to freeze access to your employment data here: https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-freeze That being said, it doesn't stop employers from continuing to hand Equifax your data on a gold platter, and therefore does nothing to protect you from the inevitable data breach that will result in Equifax being required to give everyone affected $0.36 or one year of free credit monitoring.

Hijacking here to say, literally all you need to get access to someones employment + salary history is their SSN and birthdate. edit: and a past employer that used this system Birthdays are extremely easy to get (public record), and I seem to recall a specific large organization leaking a bunch of SSN's not too long ago.......

It seems crazy to allow a large organization like that to continue operation after such an egregious error, especially if their business is centered around a bunch of personal information.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#192

Post by ralph84 » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:52 AM UTC

divbzero wrote: post #183

ralph84 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For employers it offloads employment and salary verification. Instead of having to pay someone to answer verification calls all day they just upload the data to The Work Number and let them handle it.

Are employers obligated to provide employment and salary verification?

If they didn't their employees would be pretty pissed when they're unable to get a mortgage.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#193

Post by kmonsen » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:53 AM UTC

It looks like creditkarma loves, loves, loves to check this data. Except for the bank holding my mortgage only credit karma has checked it. I'm OK with the bank checking, if this system exists clearly bank handing out 1 million should be allowed to access it (my preferred outcome would be the system did not exist, or if it did be run by the government who already have all the data.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#194

Post by throwawayboise » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:53 AM UTC

what_ever wrote: post #121

mgraczyk wrote: post #54

Very interesting, I didn't expect the accuracy and detail in this data. All of my pay from Intel, Google, Facebook is in here. Qualcomm apparently did not report. Also, Google (my latest employer) pulled the data just before I started working, after giving me an offer. My credit card company pulls the data every month, sometimes 2-3 times per month. Several mortgage originators have also pulled the data even though I…

Does the system not ask for SSN to pull this data? If yes, how did Google get your SSN? Disc: Googler.

LOL. Google knows your SSN. They know everybody's SSN.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#195

Post by geoduck14 » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:53 AM UTC

jf wrote: post #30

Learning that this website exists, and then finding detailed and accurate information in my record is what convinced me to start sharing my salary data with my peers. As I see it, this database is a breach of an implicit social contract between me and the companies that I work for. Since my employers apparently have no issues sharing my salary with their peers, I see no reason not to do the same with my peers.

So.... how much do you make?

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#196

Post by qbasic_forever » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:53 AM UTC

registeredcorn wrote: post #87

vulcan01 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to. Your employer can give this info to whoever they want, and many give this data to Equifax or one of the other credit agencies. Also, you might give your bank employment details, and your bank will most likely send that info to a credit agency as well. There's not much of an escape.

What exactly do employers and banks stand to gain from sharing this information? Is it an exchange of information for money?

Banks and organizations that are considering lending you credit (i.e. buying a house / car / getting a credit card) can know if you're getting in over your head with finances and might be higher risk to repay. They can set their interest rates and fees appropriately.

Although all that said for any major loan the bank is going to ask you to provide detailed proof of all income, assets, etc. They likely use this service as a check to make sure you aren't trying to overstate your income.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#197

Post by ajxs » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:54 AM UTC

Are there equivalent services that broker data of citizens in other countries? As a non-American, my layperson understanding of American legislation is that it's extremely lax when it comes to protecting individuals from privacy invasions like this. Is anyone aware of laws in the EU/Canada/Australia that would prevent this kind of thing happening?

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#198

Post by fourtrees » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:54 AM UTC

johnnyo wrote: post #66

tomrod wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Equifax_data_breach

She and her co-workers did fuck up badly and were unlucky enough to be under attack from one of the most powerful countries in the world. But to attribute that failure to her having received masters in composing fourteen years before, years she spent as a successful (as far as we know) Security Officer and VP at other financials seems a bit much like scapegoating.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#199

Post by hijinks » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:55 AM UTC

eyelidlessness wrote: post #166

Salary data should be public anyway. Let’s all share ours. I’m currently contracting for $95/hr. My most recent salary was $140k, my most recent contracts besides my current one were a flat rate $24k contract for up to 80 hours and a short term contract for $100/hr. (I obviously like my current contract quite a lot)

the issue really isn't that it shouldn't be public. The issue is this service allows your new company to request your history so they can see your past salary. So you lose 100% of your negotiating power if they know how much you made and you don't know their ceiling.

Re: Tell HN: Salary data is for sale

#200

Post by ttyprintk » Fri, Jan 07, 2022, 5:56 AM UTC

geektips wrote: post #73

johnnyo wrote: post #24

How much does it cost to get a list of everyone's salary at my company?

Maybe you can register a 1 person company and share your employee details for access to the platform.

Might as well pay yourself $3/min to increase accuracy in their database.