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Privacy Security United States

This Company Has Built a Profile On Every American Adult (bloomberg.com) 225

Posted by msmash from the big-brother-cares-about-you dept.
Reader schwit1 writes: Every move you make. Every click you take. Every game you play. Every place you stay. They'll be watching you. IDI, a year-old company in the so-called data-fusion business, is the first to centralize and weaponize all that information for its customers. The Boca Raton, Fla., company's database service, idiCORE, combines public records with purchasing, demographic, and behavioral data. Chief Executive Officer Derek Dubner says the system isn't waiting for requests from clients -- it's already built a profile on every American adult, including young people who wouldn't be swept up in conventional databases, which only index transactions. 'We have data on that 21-year-old who's living at home with mom and dad,' he says.
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This Company Has Built a Profile On Every American Adult More

This Company Has Built a Profile On Every American Adult

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  • Good luck (Score:5, Funny)

    by bsharp8256 ( 1372285 ) on Friday August 05, 2016 @01:08PM (#52652137)
    Good luck finding me in my mom's basement!

    • Re:Good luck (Score:5, Funny)

      by mulvane ( 692631 ) on Friday August 05, 2016 @01:12PM (#52652171)
      It's either her dead body, of the really feminine sounding boy dressed up and talking like her telling himself about how all the women are whores. 50/50, and most cops are smart enough to realize you aren't the dead mummified boy sitting in the rocking chair.

    • What part of "We have data on that 21-year-old who's living at home with mom and dad" was unclear? I don't think location in the house matters.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      your post just broadcast your location (IP address from Slashdot's logs we've hacked), employment status (none), what you read (nerd) and respond to and your age. We can get your name from your parents internet account and all about you from the public records of your birth, school, etc. Simple, easy and done! Criminal record? Done. Miss anything?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Good luck finding me in my mom's basement!

      Hey Brandon Sharp, is that really you? how is your mercedess 220D doing? have you upgraded to the latest Ubuntu ?

    • Re:Good luck (Score:5, Interesting)

      by dbialac ( 320955 ) on Friday August 05, 2016 @03:18PM (#52652991)

      See headline, think to myself, "Hmm, I used to know people in this industry." Continue reading, "The Boca Raton, Fla., company's database..." Oh, shit. That's where I was when I knew them. Please don't be somebody I know. Please don't be somebody I know. "Chief Executive Officer Derek Dubner says". FUUUUCKKKKKK. Oddly, though, I don't know him from this industry but rather from a company in another industry that I worked with him at.

      On a serious note, some insider information. First, yes, they do in fact know that much about you and yes the tools work incredibly well. I worked on the product that became the NSA's PRISM program (after I was no longer working on it). Believe it or not, it actually started out as a marketing tool to find potential leads. After 9/11, the company's owner Hank Asher realized that it would work well for tracking and researching people for the feds. The tool could query incredibly detailed information on anybody in the US with sub-second response times... in the year 2000. No off the shelf tools like hbase existed back then to do something like this.

      About the only way to stay under the radar with this kind of stuff and not be homeless is to have a mailbox at someplace like the UPS Store, get paid under the table and pay cash for everything, and move around every 2 months without any written lease. After that, your new location gets fed into these systems. The time to stay at one place may actually be shorter these days.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      Good luck finding me in my mom's basement!

      They know where you are in the basement, who your mother is, who your father is (not who you think), how many pizza crumbs and pepperonis you left in the couch, how many times you wanked last week, what you were wearing while wanking, how many Linux distros you own, how many still won't boot, how many times you cried over losing D&D this year, how many times you told users to RTFM, how many times they actually did, why your last and only girlfriend is at Bellevu

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        So you know exactly what you do, you become an internet actor, 'it's not lying, it's creating many false profiles'. Basically poison their databases by creating abstract false information about yourself all over the internet. Run stuff like this http://www.cs.nyu.edu/trackmen... [nyu.edu]. It creates chaos in their databases. Computers are really great a tracking information and keeping records, they are even better at creating false information to flood relational databases with false connections that generate even

  • cant be every adult (Score:3)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Friday August 05, 2016 @01:12PM (#52652167)

    Unless they've got gps chips and fingerprint scanners built into each dollar bill.

    • It's worse than that. The government put chips in your head while you were sleeping.

      • The government put chips in your head while you were sleeping.

        Cool, free upgrade. Does this mean I can browse the Net with my thoughts? Connect to other drivers to figure out what they're going to do? Shared dream instances?

    • Re:cant be every adult (Score:5, Interesting)

      by bws111 ( 1216812 ) on Friday August 05, 2016 @02:43PM (#52652805)

      Yeah, as usual this is just another hyped-up clickbait summary. When you read TFA, you find that what they actually claim to have is:

      All KNOWN addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses (jeez, they know stuff they know)

      Propery bought and sold, including mortgages (public records stuff)
      Vehicles owned (public records)
      Criminal record (public records)
      Voter registration (public records)
      Hunting permits (public records)

      They also claim to have 'biilions of photographs from private companies with license plate scanners'. Kind of doubtful, companies don't give that info away for free, and why would they buy it if they don't need it.

      Oh, and the 'every purchase' bullshit? Well, they own a couple of coupon companies, and IF you sign up for their coupons they ask for stuff like email and birthday, and IF you use those coupons when you buy something they know what you bought. No shit.

      • They also claim to have 'biilions of photographs from private companies with license plate scanners'. Kind of doubtful, companies don't give that info away for free, and why would they buy it if they don't need it.

        They buy it because it helps their goals, whatever those are. It can't be that expensive, it's just manual labor and a little data processing. Someone with a multi-directional camera mounted on their vehicle just drives around and the camera records the location of every license plate it finds. We've seen those vehicles driving through our parking lot. It's not that they're reaching out to private businesses and asking them for their license plate data, they hire private contractors to drive around and

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zlives ( 2009072 )

      actually sounds more like a marking hype for selling to VC's.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Seriously. My record would be muddier than the Mississippi River after a major flood of the surrounding area. I have people that use my loyalty cards and I use theirs (family, close friends, girlfriend, her family, etc). Hell, so does my GF. We buy things for ourselves and others. Her dad was flagged for marketing for products he was helping me research.

        Going even further, there is tons that makes me even harder to track - numerous VMs, years in other countries, and the lack of concentration of information

  • Ad Blocker Irony? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Swoopy ( 101558 ) on Friday August 05, 2016 @01:16PM (#52652193)

    Ironic. The link to the article begins by complaining about my use of an ad blocker in my browser. So what was newsworthy about that article again? Shameless linking of online behaviour and personality profile? You wonder how they got all that data.

    • Actually, they don't need cookies anymore. Your Browser is unique enough that they can track that without needing cookies.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Xenolith0 ( 808358 )
      With noscript, their stupid javascript can't detect the blocking of their malware, and the article is readable.

      • With noscript, their stupid javascript can't detect the blocking of their malware, and the article is readable.

        I know, I laughed at the deliciousness of their stupidity.

        Their "pleeeeez don't use an adblocker" detector uses Javascript and blithely lets you in if Javascript is turned off. Brilliant.

        Let's not tell them about NoScript, shall we?

  • So is this enough finally? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by H3lldr0p ( 40304 ) on Friday August 05, 2016 @01:16PM (#52652195) Homepage

    To get some good privacy laws passed?

    'Cause it really creeps me out that a coupon site is being used to confirm information. And aside from that aspect, which seems to be setup to prey on the poor and less fortunate, that the company

    "...including young people who wouldnâ(TM)t be swept up in conventional databases...".

    That says to me they're going after children under 18 and doing so on purpose.

    Of course they'd not show an example to the reporter. That'd either expose some proprietary info or that they're full of shit. Either way, this thing should be shut down.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DrXym ( 126579 )
      Demand EU style data protection laws. Basically it requires individual consent and stops companies selling / aggregating data, or using data in ways contrary to the reasons someone consented to.

    • It probably isn't enough. I think it's going to take somebody being able to show they've been harmed by the data collection and it will have to work it's way to the supreme court.

      I wish the company had a way that I could get (or even purchase) a copy of the report on me. I can't think of any reason why they should object to that.

  • Stalking Is Illegal. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by zenlessyank ( 748553 ) on Friday August 05, 2016 @01:18PM (#52652207)

    If I put up a chart of someone's activities, they call me a stalker, but if a company does it, it is called smart business. 2 sets of rules. Greed is great. Fuck me moar.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Google would seem to fall under the same categorization. But more so, and they are impossible for most people to avoid because they are on nearly every site on the web, often behind the scenes in ways that are not obvious to non-techies.

    • Re:Stalking Is Illegal. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Solandri ( 704621 ) on Friday August 05, 2016 @02:34PM (#52652761)
      No, this is an insidious loophole I first encountered while playing Everquest. The rules of conduct prohibited targeting an individual for harassment, punishable by banning. Unfortunately, this meant that some asshole who camped at a site (say a dungeon) constantly creating trains which got people killed was OK since he wasn't targeting a specific individual. But anyone trying to stop him from ruining everyone else's gameplay was banned by the GMs for targeting him specifically.

      Likewise, if you're gathering information about a specific individual in RL, it's stalking. But if you're gathering information about everyone, you're just collecting data. What needs to be done is to pass a law which requires such personalized data collection to be anonymized, so that it can't specifically be tied back to an individual, like the Census does. But the advertising industry will never let that happen.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by PJ6 ( 1151747 )

        What needs to be done is to pass a law which requires such personalized data collection to be anonymized, so that it can't specifically be tied back to an individual

        I think one of the major problems we face with tech these days is, it's surprisingly hard to truly anonymize any data unless you aggregate.

  • is it legal to monetize that profile? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Is it legal to sell this information to anyone? Athletes license their image and likeness, receiving fees in return for the right to use them for monetization. Aside from public records, shouldn't I own the data about me, and thus be able to insist it not be sold without my consent? Shouldn't I legally own the rights to a profile about me?

  • It's times like these that i love my european life the most.

  • Um no (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 110010001000 ( 697113 ) on Friday August 05, 2016 @01:28PM (#52652275) Homepage Journal
    Um no. They aren't the first. There are many. Acxiom is the biggest and has been doing it for over 50 years. This sounds like someone new looking to get some VC money.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday August 05, 2016 @01:32PM (#52652301)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by 110010001000 ( 697113 )
      This maybe possibly be the best post I have ever read on Slashdot.

    • quantrics started this crap (technically socci too), then companies like Target, Ralphs, and Best Buy decided to bring it in house and make it proprietary, literally bankrupting them overnight.

      Great! I hope this company soon follows suit.

    • Is there anything in those databases (e.g. Acxiom) that can realistically be poisoned? And what would be worth poisoning these days, stuff that's possible to do and really does have an effect on their end-product quality?

    • [quote]the truth is we really do not know why some of these audiences (18-32) fail brand permanence, brand awareness, or our consumer confidence and profile metrics other than (gasp) they probably just arent interested in the product.[/quote]

      Looking at purchases where I'm a loyal customer (TP, toothpaste, deodorant, laundry detergent, paper towels, NB shoes), I got locked in as a kid. I've been using most those products since I was a kid that my parents bought. Deodorant was the only brand that could handle

  • Ecouragement (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05, 2016 @01:45PM (#52652403)

    Good. Keep building those databases. Hoover up as much data as you can. Soon it won't be worth the disk drives you're storing it on.

    I still get plenty of companies trying to sell me an extended warranty on a car I haven't owned in years.
    I still get plenty of companies trying to sell me services for a job I haven't had in more than a decade.

    It's cheap and easy to get data. It's hard and expensive to keep it clean. A few more years of this explosive growth in personal data availability and it will all turn to garbage.

    • Exactly. My wife has been dead over 20 years. She still gets daily mail for cruise trips, health insurance(!), beauty products, etc. sent to an address where she never lived. It's so fun getting the mail every day realizing she gets more mail than I do.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by guruevi ( 827432 )

      But those companies paid/pay for your information even though it's crap and they will continue doing so as it works for ~1% of the population they send it to. So these types of companies will continue selling them crap information and stay in business and you'll continue receiving spam, just in case you react to one of them.

    • The downside of poisoning the data is that these databases are used for verifying your identity. Have you ever get hit with a series of questions like "Which of these four address have you lived at in the last 10 years?" That's an instance of this verification technique. But there doesn't seem to be any verification, since I have gotten questions where there is no correct choice.

      My fear is not about good data getting out but so much bad data getting in so that I can no longer prove who I am.

  • It's the only way to be sure.

  • I don't recall signing an authorization for my data to be used this way. Nor did I engage in informed consent with any of the vendors that have disclosed this information to this third party--how about we just figure out who is selling them data and sue a few of them into bankruptcy? It'll scare away other potential sellers and take this predatory organization down.

  • Provided you're making (enough) money off of it. :D

  • "I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. ... Itâ(TM)s the only way to be sure" -- from the seminal text on destroying monsters ...

  • And you worry about Big Bad Government (Score:3, Insightful)

    by AutodidactLabrat ( 3506801 ) on Friday August 05, 2016 @03:03PM (#52652911)
    Big Bad Government won't prevent you from going to the school of your choice.
    Or buying a first home
    Or getting a car loan
    or asking for a raise
    But these people will, if there is enough profit in offering a dataset that maximizes someone else's profit at your expense.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by epyT-R ( 613989 )

      bigbadgovernment is just the logical conclusion to all of that. The ultimate monopoly.

  • in 3, 2, 1...

    not that anyone will notice as we are all "alarm fatigued" of hacked databases.

  • I wonder how many profiles they've generated for me?

    I have several email addresses that I keep segregated. One I use for junk email, my local sport teams' message boards, this site, etc. I have a second account that I use for buying things online (Steam, Amazon, Netflix, etc.) And a third address strictly for personal emails.

    It's entirely feasible that all 3 have been picked up by this company, and treated as 3 completely unique people with the same name.

  • That's what I propose. Terms of the settlement: Complete and total destruction of the entire database and all backups, followed by public execution by guillotine of the management staff of the company.
  • Do people wake up one day and set out to start the creepiest company they possibly can? Seriously, I haven't started a porn site because of the ick factor but now I think I might because this gives me someone that will sill make me feel good about myself.

  • Is this something that I can query to see what my current address is for $5 or so or do they only deal with multi million dollar deals?

  • Looks like I'll have to wait for Anonymous to bring this service to its knees.

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