Today we go to battle against robots not just any robots data robots.
Today I will teach you how to opt out of Big Data or data brokers. I am coming from the perspective that opting out of big data stops junk mail, so if you wonder why I blab on a lot about junk mail that is why.
A junk mail problem is Big data taking your information and weaponizing it to attack you. The goal of this blog post is to stop your data from bouncing around from data broker to data broker. Opting out of Data Brokers doesn’t directly stop junk mail. It cuts off your information before they can target you for direct mail. We are preventing junk mail from happening before it starts.
Junk mail is a physical manifestation that your data is being shared and is being used against you. I donated $10 to St. Joseph’s Indian School, They sold my data to other charities. All this tells me is that you shouldn’t donate to St. Joeph’s or these other charities. Not only will they sell your data, but they will spend your donation on junk mail.
I don’t want you to feel scared or upset by all of this I want you to feel empowered that you are taking control of your data. This is a very light dip into the world of big data. I want you to live your best life. You have done nothing wrong. The companies that buy and use your data against you are the baddies. You shouldn’t have to buy a burner phone in a parking lot with cash from Slippin Jimmy to live your everyday life. The companies that exploit your data are the ones that need to change.
This is very cutting-edge stuff. There is a part of me that enjoys the fact that we are using cutting-edge technology and laws to stop the one of oldest communication systems the postal mail. The laws that tackle this topic are changing every year. I’m in California so I may have more rights than you when it comes to my data and privacy. But more and more states are passing laws about data privacy. At the end I will link to websites that are deep into data privacy. I just scratch the surface of data brokers and data privacy with trying to stop junk mail. They will teach you how to disappear.
The 5V’s of Big Data Velocity, Volume, Value, Variety and Veracity
The 5 V’s of big data (volume, velocity, variety, and veracity, value) are the five main and innate characteristics of big data. Knowing the 5 V’s allows data scientists to derive more value from their data while also allowing the scientists’ organization to become more customer-centric. TechTarget
- Volume the amount of data coming in
- Velocity is the speed at which the data is coming in
- Variety the number of places sending in data
- Veracity or the Truthyness of the data. How accurate it is.
- Value how valuable the data is to a marketer.
For example, a traditional sports fan’s data is worth more than an esports fan’s data. “With traditional sports, an average fan spends about $50 per year,” “With esports, it’s an average of $5. Marketers will want to target a traditional sports fan rather than an esports fan. VentureBeat
Every aspect of your life is for sale for PENNIES. Where you live, what you buy, your medical data. All of it is for the taking for anyone with a credit card.
Our goal is to get off of mailing lists like these “Donors to Charitable Causes”
Let’s focus on this mailing list it is $80 per mile which is 1,000 names. That comes out to 8 cents per name. That is how little you are worth to these people. For 8 cents they will get your address, phone number, and email.
And don’t worry about Exact Data, I have their parent company Data Axel on the opt-out list under data brokers.
The classic moment your data is used against you is when you are pregnant. The second you buy pregnancy tests and prenatal vitamins marketers swarm all over you. Marketers love catching people at life-changing moments when they are vulnerable. Nothing upends your life like a baby. If they can make you brand loyal when you have a baby, they hope you will remain brand loyal for the rest of your life and the life of your child.
Further Reading:
The Markup: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
The Markup: “Heavy Purchasers” of Pregnancy Tests to the Depression-Prone: We Found 650,000 Ways Advertisers Label You
KFF Health News: Need to Get Plan B or an HIV Test Online? Facebook May Know About It
Time: My Experiment Opting Out of Big Data Made Me Look Like a Criminal
My long-time readers are rolling their eyes at the site of these two. This is French Phyic Maria Duval. She sold her name and likeness to this man Patrice Runner. He ran the largest mail fraud scam ever. I could go on forever about this garbage person and how he destroyed families for decades with his psychic scam, but I will focus on how he used big data to scam people. If a person sent in money, the scammers would buy the victims’ data and integrate it into the next letter.
The letters hooked its victims with bits of personal information, purchased from data brokers. “You were born under the sign of Taurus . . . Being born on May 22, 1927 in Kansas City at 12:00,” one read. “I can already see some aspects of your personality. Like everyone, you have some faults.” NYPost
If you are a person who doesn’t know that a direct mail letter is a giant Mad Lib and that a computer can insert any piece of information into a letter, this letter and its message are very real.
Further Reading:
Maria Duval Scam wiki page (Do you know how bad you have to be to get a scam named after you? She is up there with Charles Ponzi)
CNN Follow up story about Maria Duval
Ellis/Hicken: A Deal with the Devil book
The Walrus: The Greatest Scam Ever Written
Patrice Runner convicted of running a mass-mailing fraud scheme
AARP podcast The Perfect Scam: Psychic Mail Fraud Scheme Enabled by One of the World’s Largest Data Firms Spoiler Alert: It was Epsilon.
Bloomberg: Which States Have Consumer Data Privacy Laws?
A lot of these opt-out sites are made possible by privacy laws enacted by states. California was first and other states are passing privacy laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The opt-out websites I link to may not mention your state. Fill it out anyway. Let me know what happens.
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) PDF
Utah Consumer Privacy Act (UCPA)
Wells Fargo: California Consumer Privacy Act Notice
If you are a California resident, you can make an Access Request or a Deletion Request by:
- Contacting us at 1-844-774-9229; or
- Submitting your request at www.wellsfargo.com/privacycenter/
Chase: California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Disclosure
| To limit our sharing | Call 1–888–868–8618 – our menu will prompt you through your choice(s). We accept operator relay calls.Visit us online: chase.com/privacypreferences Please note: If you are a new customer, we can begin sharing your information 30 days from the date we sent this notice. When you are no longer our customer, we continue to share your information as described in this notice. However, you can contact us at anytime to limit our sharing. |
|---|
Bank of America: Privacy & Security: Set Your Privacy Choices
- Visit us online: bankofamerica.com/privacy
- Call 888.341.5000 — our menu will prompt you through your choices
- Talk to your assigned financial advisor
Citibank: U.S. Privacy Notice for Consumers
B. Submission of Requests. You may exercise these rights by managing this information through Citi’s Privacy Hub at online.citi.com/dataprivacyhub or by calling us at (833) 971-1191. If you wish to submit a request to have your Personal Information deleted (see section I.A.3 in this Appendix) or wish to opt-out of the selling of your Personal Information, call us at (833) 981 0270. If you wish to submit any type of CCPA request through an authorized agent, please follow the process in Section I.D. below.
The credit bureaus are also selling your information. You can fill out a California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) (Plus those other states I mentioned) Opt-Out Request with each credit bureau. This does not stop junk mail for credit card offers. It stops them from selling your information to 3rd parties.
They are going to ask for your Social Security number and your date of birth. It is OK for you to give them this information it is how they will identify you in their system.
Even if you do not live in the States with a Consumer Privacy Act fill it out anyway and let me know what happens.
TransUnion opt-out here
To opt-out of credit card junk mail, go to Opt Out Prescreen. They will ask for your Social Security Number. It is OK this site is run by the credit bureaus, your Social Security Number is how they ID you.
When you click on the link for TransUnion you may notice that Sontiq, Neustar, Signal Digital, Argus Advisory, and Commerce Signals are now TransUnion companies. And you must opt-out of each one individually. Are you one company or not? Why do I have to opt out of each one separately? Why aren’t they all under the umbrella of Transunion Data or some such thing? This is done on purpose so that people don’t opt-out. It is anti-consumer and worthy of an FTC complaint. And if you live in a state with Data Privacy laws complain to them as well.
Signal Digital redirects to TransUnion opt-out page
Argus Advisory privacy notice page has no way to opt-out
Commerce Signals privacy notice page has no way to opt-out
These are the top data brokers you should opt-out of
Epsilon Consumer Information page opt-out here
Oracle Advertising opt-out here
LexisNexis opt-out here
InfoCision, Wiki page. Call them at (330) 668-1400 or email them at infocis@infocision.com.
My blog post from 2015 about InfoCision
ProPublica search for every time InfoCision appears in a charity’s IRS 990
If you are on the mailing list for 3 or more of their clients contact them and ask to be put on their “Suppression List” (direct mail speak for “do not contact list”).
This is one page of mailing lists that Wiland has. I recommend using NextMark to look up Wiland to see if you are on the mailing lists for any of their clients. Again if you get mail for 3 or more of their clients contact them to be put on their “Suppression List”.
Wiland’s overly complicated Privacy page Op-out here
Now on to the one that really freaks people out. People Searches. You can’t see Data Brokers bouncing your data around, but you can see your name and address for sale on people finder sites. These bottom feeders take public data that was commonly found in phone books in years past and splash it all over the World Wide Web
Now that we have the internet your public information has escaped the small world of your city’s phonebook and is on to the world stage for all to see. We know sites like these have helped people to stalk and harass victims. Swatting, pizza deliveries, and other harassment campaigns are carried out because someone pays a nominal fee to get a person’s address.
There are tons of people finders that sell public information. Name address, phone number, email address, property records, arrest records, and on and on. World Privacy Forum has 2 sites they have as top priority to opt-out of
People Finders opt-out here
Intelius / People Connect opt-out here (pick “Suppress Your Public Data”)
Who should remove themselves from People Finder sites? I’m biased I think everyone should opt-out of them. But the types of people who should really protect themselves are: victims of domestic abuse and people who go no contact with abusive family members. People who are in the public spotlight including content creators. People who may have gone with their friends to Hollywood BLVD when they were in high school and took a personality test from a specific religious group, and they are still getting junk mail from this church 20 years later after moving multiple times. I’m joking, but seriously I think every address in the greater Los Angeles area has been on this church’s mailing list at one time or another.
Google’s My Ad Center
You can control the ads Google serves you. You can turn off or on wide topic catagories or specific companies.
You can affect the veracity and value of your data by changing your demographic data. Make yourself more valuable to advertisers by changing your income to “High income” and your education to “Bachelor’s degree” or higher. You can also change your age and other demographic data to lower the veracity of your data.
If you would like to go deeper into protecting your personally identifiable information opting out of Big Data, privacy rights, and other data topics
World Privacy Forum Data Broker Opt-out list
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse’s Data Broker page
Data Elimination and Limiting Extensive Tracking and Exchange (DELETE) Act
Proposed “do not sell my data” bill could be key for domestic violence survivors
Senate Bill S.2121 – DELETE Act
House Bill H.R.4311 – DELETE Act
This may sound corny, but if you care about Your personal data, data brokers, and data privacy and how it is used against you please contact your US Senators and house members about the Data Elimination and Limiting Extensive Tracking and Exchange (DELETE) Act, there is a version in both the house and the senate. Call them and write them and tell them how important this issue is to you. Tell them your junk mail story and how data brokers have wreaked your mailbox by selling your information.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau CFPB
CFPB to propose rule reining in consumer data sales
The CFPB plans to propose rules that would require data brokers — or any other company in the surveillance industry — be covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The 1970 law strictly limits the use of credit report data from being sold for any reason other than what Congress has specified as having a “permissible purpose,” such as credit underwriting. The law prohibits the sale of data for advertising, training and artificial intelligence.
CA Bill SB362
CPPA Board Votes Unanimously to Support Four California Privacy Bills
There are 4 bills making their way through the California state legislature right now. The big one people are talking about is Senate Bill 362. If it passes the state would make a website portal where a person could enter their information once and opt-out of all the data brokers.
WTF is California’s proposed ‘Delete Act’?
Why the California Delete Act Matters
Find Your California Representative
There is an app for that.
The following are affiliate links. If you would like to support the work I do, please consider a subscription to the following companies that opt-out of data brokers for you
DeleteMe Use the code PARTNER20 for 20% off a subscription
PaperKarma the junk mail-stopping app. DJM30 for 30% off a subscription
Drowning in Junk Mail 