Have you recently seen @Discover advertise Free Online Privacy Protection with their Credit Card products?
If you aren't aware of the privacy nightmare that are Data Brokers, buckle up:
A data broker is a company that collects and sells personal information about individuals to other organizations.
Data brokers procure this information from public records, private companies and the internet.
But they never asked you for permission to sell your data...
The largest data brokers include:
-LexisNexis
-Equifax
-Experian
-CoreLogic
-Epsilon
-Acxiom
Did they ask you for permission to sell your data?
The data broker industrial complex is big business
California DMV made $52m selling drivers personal information in 2019
The numbers get bigger every year, the appetite for this data is insatiable
vice.com/en/article/evjekz/the-california-dmv-is-making-dollar50m-a-year-selling-drivers-personal-information
Data brokers also provide data services to banks in order to meet the Bank Secrecy Act regulations.
But data brokers aren't just selling your data to regulated institutions like banks.
They sell your data to websites that let you look up anyones private information
Take for example spokeo.com/
Their website claims:
"Search by name, phone, address, or email to confidentially lookup information about people..."
Contact info, location history, family, personal details, wealth data, criminal records
Did you give them permission?
Getting back to @Discover, this is the first time I've seen a financial institution build a product that actually helps your privacy.
Discover's product proactively removes your data from these sites but additionally they are educating their customers
discover.com/credit-cards/card-smarts/remove-your-info-from-people-search-sites/
There are businesses like @deleteme that will scan these privacy destroying websites for your personal information and request that they take it down too
I highly recommend DeleteMe as it can protect your privacy and save you massive amounts of time
joindeleteme.com/
If DeleteMe is too expensive for you or you don't want to give your data to another company, then you can DIY
@IntelTechniques has written an extensive guide of how to remove your information from data brokers
Start with the MostBangForYourBuck removals
inteltechniques.com/data/workbook.pdf
As a pseudonym, you should take steps to limit the amount of your personal information is in the hands of data brokers.
Use a service or DIY
Thanks for reading and if you like this post, then give me a follow @hiro_nym to see the next thread on privacy