Ironic: I use Ghostery to block website trackers, and it identified thirteen of them on that article.
Alanis level irony: millions of people use Ghostery and most aren't aware it tracks them and sells their data.
Think You Can Live Offline Without Being Tracked? Here's What It Takes
31–40 of 97 posts
Re: Think You Can Live Offline Without Being Tracked? Here's What It Takes
#32A horrible article. Offline? The lady has a tech-startup in SanFrancisco. Untracked? Still possible to track her. There is nothing you can do to prevent it. If you want to buy a house, you're going to need credit, if you want credit then you're going to be tracked. That's just the way it works in developed nations. It is one thing to be mindful of security. Protecting your data, understanding the limits of cryptograp…
Even if you paid cash for that house, the tax records can be public.
If you can afford it, you pay to found a private company, and have that purchase the house.
Preferably with cash, and have the company registered in an offshore tax haven.
Re: Think You Can Live Offline Without Being Tracked? Here's What It Takes
#33Ritter, for instance, recently met an insurance executive who always pays for meals with cash because he believes some day that data will be linked to his coverage. “I’m not saying this is a definite thing that happens,” Ritter says. “but I don’t see any definite reason why it couldn’t." Don't let it stop there. Buying a six pack for the weekend? Watch your healthcare premium go up by like 0.001% or something like th…
Are they wrong? Did you not just increase their liability by 0.001%? I guess I'm still having a hard time squaring personal responsibility with this idea of complete anonymity. It's not that we shouldn't be able to hide anything, but like the article said, it's just not possible (or even reasonable to expect) to hide everything. Existing in society leaves a footprint, especially in cases like license plates - they're…
Perhaps you're buying alcohol for a party. Or all that fatty food you purchased on your credit card was because you get shopping for a friend. But the anonymous algorithms won't know this, and you will pay for their assumptions. How is that fair? It's little relief to me if these systems are only mostly correct.
Re: Think You Can Live Offline Without Being Tracked? Here's What It Takes
#34"Friends can be an impediment to a life off the radar." Top 1% of the super paranoid indeed. While I understand the reach of the government and the lengths they'll go to gain information - this article is absolutely ridiculous to me. I like my friends, I like to travel, I like to do things. Effectively letting the government control your life because you are afraid of what they MIGHT do? Give me a fucking break.
I like my friends, I like to travel, I like to do things. Effectively letting the government control your life because you are afraid of what they MIGHT do? Give me a fucking break.
The problem is the reverse here. The "system" (i.e. our society in general) has been co-opted. It is profoundly wrong that a normal life in the modern world requires so much disclosure to unrelated 3rd parties.
It's like the argument - if you don't want to be recorded, cataloged and tracked by innumerable license plate scanners on the road by the police, DEA, etc and private data-brokers like TLO [1] then you shouldn't drive. It's completely ass-backwards, the price of driving shouldn't be a permanent record of all your movements in innumerable databases that are anonymous to you.
[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/07/10/data-broke...
Re: Think You Can Live Offline Without Being Tracked? Here's What It Takes
#35Ironic: I use Ghostery to block website trackers, and it identified thirteen of them on that article.
Alanis level irony: millions of people use Ghostery and most aren't aware it tracks them and sells their data.
Alanis level irony: millions of people use Ghostery and most aren't aware it tracks them and sells their data.
You have to actively turn the reporting on, it is not the default. It isn't a hidden option either, it is the very first one on the configuration page.
Re: Think You Can Live Offline Without Being Tracked? Here's What It Takes
#36Ironic: I use Ghostery to block website trackers, and it identified thirteen of them on that article.
Alanis level irony: millions of people use Ghostery and most aren't aware it tracks them and sells their data.
Source?
Is the opt-in feature noted here [1] what you're referring to?
Re: Think You Can Live Offline Without Being Tracked? Here's What It Takes
#37Ritter, for instance, recently met an insurance executive who always pays for meals with cash because he believes some day that data will be linked to his coverage. “I’m not saying this is a definite thing that happens,” Ritter says. “but I don’t see any definite reason why it couldn’t." Don't let it stop there. Buying a six pack for the weekend? Watch your healthcare premium go up by like 0.001% or something like th…
Idea: services that intentionally fuzz up your data. You pay them a certain fee and they make purchases for goods, entertainment, etc. in subtle ways (credit card purchases). You are aware at all times what was purchased by "you." These purchases would not show up in a way to the general public (i.e., people you know), but is the type of thing that credit agencies, insurance companies, etc., might datamine for. Mess with their data that way by creating a cloak of obfuscation.
Re: Think You Can Live Offline Without Being Tracked? Here's What It Takes
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are they wrong? Did you not just increase their liability by 0.001%? I guess I'm still having a hard time squaring personal responsibility with this idea of complete anonymity. It's not that we shouldn't be able to hide anything, but like the article said, it's just not possible (or even reasonable to expect) to hide everything. Existing in society leaves a footprint, especially in cases like license plates - they're…
Perhaps you're buying alcohol for a party. Or all that fatty food you purchased on your credit card was because you get shopping for a friend. But the anonymous algorithms won't know this, and you will pay for their assumptions. How is that fair? It's little relief to me if these systems are only mostly correct.
You're focusing on the specific example, rather than the general idea that your purchase history indicates your riskiness, and an insurance company who has that data available to them will adjust your policy based on your behavior.
And why shouldn't they? It's the same concept as you indicating whether or not you smoke, how much you drive to/from work daily, how many driving tickets you have, etc. Questions you willfully answer today. We are already accepting of their interest.
The only significant difference here is you wouldn't as easily be able to lie, and people who do lead more conservative lives pay less, again a tried and true concept in the car insurance industry.
Maybe soon we'll see health insurance companies offering individual breaks to people who grant the company access to their purchase history.
Re: Think You Can Live Offline Without Being Tracked? Here's What It Takes
#39One interviewee had a credit card in a fake name. How legal is that exactly?
It is illegal to defraud and impersonate. There's nothing illegal about using multiple names (again, so long as there is no intent to defraud or impersonate).
I'd be very careful there ... the notion of "structured transactions"[1] is about as wide-reaching as a RICO indictment, and can be used for just about anything.
Even a sniff of a notion that you did that to avoid any kind of tax[2] categorizes it as a "structuring" which "may be punished by a fine or up to five years in prison, or both."
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structuring
[2] Regardless of whether that's true or not ...
Re: Think You Can Live Offline Without Being Tracked? Here's What It Takes
#40"Friends can be an impediment to a life off the radar." Top 1% of the super paranoid indeed. While I understand the reach of the government and the lengths they'll go to gain information - this article is absolutely ridiculous to me. I like my friends, I like to travel, I like to do things. Effectively letting the government control your life because you are afraid of what they MIGHT do? Give me a fucking break.
That's the point they are trying to make. No normal person can hope to lead a normal life whilst escaping tracking.