800Gb of possible Census Bureau data (tax records,etc) leaked. Check your data • Hacker News Board

Re: 800Gb of possible Census Bureau data (tax records,etc) leaked. Check your data

#31

Post by unixhero » Sun, Mar 22, 2020, 4:03 PM UTC

teslademigod1 wrote: post #15

jrobn wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google is easy to get rid of. It requires willpower. 1. Don’t use or get off gmail (fastmail is good but not free). 2. Limit your use of google search. If you need to try to mask your identity as best you can. 3. Don’t buy google hardware. Because you and your data are the product for google. The hardware is a Trojan horse.

Apple is better? it's either Android or Apple then, isn't it?

Of course, Apple is not better. It is equally bad. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants...

Re: 800Gb of possible Census Bureau data (tax records,etc) leaked. Check your data

#32

Post by oasisbob » Sun, Mar 22, 2020, 4:03 PM UTC

NelsonMinar wrote: post #21

This data sounds like it could have been someone's copy of the voter file, the database political groups keep on every American who can vote. Versions of that file have leaked before. There's some speculation some of the leaks have been deliberate, to illegally avoid campaign finance laws.

The detailed data schemes described in the article doesn't look like a voter file to me.

Re: 800Gb of possible Census Bureau data (tax records,etc) leaked. Check your data

#33

Post by ben174 » Sun, Mar 22, 2020, 4:08 PM UTC

etrk wrote: post #20

It's asking for my email to check if my census data has been leaked? Email isn't even shown as a field in the leaked records. Is this site just harvesting emails?

Yea I think it is. It’s the second one I’ve seen like this on HN. Expect to see some emails come in shortly if you checked.

Re: 800Gb of possible Census Bureau data (tax records,etc) leaked. Check your data

#34

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Mar 22, 2020, 4:08 PM UTC

Fiveplus wrote: post #23

pedrocr wrote: post #9

It's 800GB, not Gb. Original title has been replaced completely and used wrong units. Original is "Report: unidentified database exposes 200 million Americans" which is far more useful.

Why do people unnecessarily change titles like this?

[deleted]

Re: 800Gb of possible Census Bureau data (tax records,etc) leaked. Check your data

#35

Post by jellicle » Sun, Mar 22, 2020, 4:08 PM UTC

This doesn't have anything to do with the Census Bureau and isn't the current title of the page. ??

Yes, marketers have excellent info on all Americans and sell it to anyone. No, it doesn't have anything to do with the Census Bureau.

Re: 800Gb of possible Census Bureau data (tax records,etc) leaked. Check your data

#36

Post by teslademigod1 » Sun, Mar 22, 2020, 4:11 PM UTC

zentiggr wrote: post #18

teslademigod1 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is better? it's either Android or Apple then, isn't it?

Android is Google.

yes, my point is. i don't know if using apple products and getting into that ecosystem is much better than google's ecosystem

Re: 800Gb of possible Census Bureau data (tax records,etc) leaked. Check your data

#37

Post by salawat » Sun, Mar 22, 2020, 4:21 PM UTC

NelsonMinar wrote: post #21

This data sounds like it could have been someone's copy of the voter file, the database political groups keep on every American who can vote. Versions of that file have leaked before. There's some speculation some of the leaks have been deliberate, to illegally avoid campaign finance laws.

Got a link? That sounds like interesting reading. (The explanation of how leaking a database of every voter's info helps exploit a loophole in campaign finance law, I mean, not the data.)

Re: 800Gb of possible Census Bureau data (tax records,etc) leaked. Check your data

#38

Post by salawat » Sun, Mar 22, 2020, 4:28 PM UTC

zentiggr wrote: post #28

teslademigod1 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Realistic, not giving up. You can't escape them. even if you do, your friends are on instagram, facebook. what are you gonna do? social distance yourself in a camp in the woods forever? you can mitigate, not avoid. but how do you avoid government data collection and (possible) data leaks like this?

No one can. The radical solution is to understand that everything is out there, data brokers have collected and will sell everything you do. We need to start demanding transparency. That's it. The whole solution. No business should be permitted to have data secured. Period. Hold whatever's needed for immediate transaction purposes, everything else gets WIPED. Credit bureaus have already exposed us all. Open their dat…

The real radical solution is to enforce ownership of any and all metadata connected to you, and to acknowledge that in the case of a breach, damage is done statutorally, even if nothing has happened due to the fact that no one has seen interest in using your info against you yet.

You should also have the right to update or modify any state stored about you at any time; after all it is yours.

No one who collects it wants that though.

Re: 800Gb of possible Census Bureau data (tax records,etc) leaked. Check your data

#39

Post by teslademigod1 » Sun, Mar 22, 2020, 4:41 PM UTC

NelsonMinar wrote: post #21

This data sounds like it could have been someone's copy of the voter file, the database political groups keep on every American who can vote. Versions of that file have leaked before. There's some speculation some of the leaks have been deliberate, to illegally avoid campaign finance laws.

second that - got a link? would be great to check it out

Re: 800Gb of possible Census Bureau data (tax records,etc) leaked. Check your data

#40

Post by dccoolgai » Sun, Mar 22, 2020, 4:55 PM UTC

salawat wrote: post #37

NelsonMinar wrote: post #21

This data sounds like it could have been someone's copy of the voter file, the database political groups keep on every American who can vote. Versions of that file have leaked before. There's some speculation some of the leaks have been deliberate, to illegally avoid campaign finance laws.

Got a link? That sounds like interesting reading. (The explanation of how leaking a database of every voter's info helps exploit a loophole in campaign finance law, I mean, not the data.)

I don't have a link, but here's how that would work: there are strict limits (a few thousand per donor) on how much an official campaign can raise/spend. Outside/independent groups have no such restrictions (see Citizens United) - they could take a billion dollars from one donor and spend it all on behalf of one candidate. But what good would the official restrictions be if the campaigns could call the independents and say "buy a million dollars of ads for me". So there are also strict laws about "coordination". You can probably figure out the rest by yourself... But leaving the records in a place where they are "available to the public" provides plausible deniability to the coordination problem.