I don’t use aliases. Never let me kids use them, either. My eMail name has been RAAckerman@something.com forever- whether it was the predecessor to AOL, Hotmail, Microsoft Network, whatever. I need to stand behind what I say. But, that does not mean that I agree to be tracked everywhere I go.
And, that is exactly what companies like Google, Facebook, and a host of others do. Because that’s how they make their money. By tracking us and selling that information to others. And, because of those facts, many people don’t provide full- or even accurate- profiles on various sites. But, I have news for them- and you. That doesn’t make much difference in the grand scheme of things.
For example, Facebook uses network theory and algorithms that are smarter than you think. Want proof? Look at those names on the right that are listed- saying you may know them. LinkedIn does the same. Knowing at least one of your friends, they can guess who else you may know. And, they can also guess which colleges/universities we attended. If we are 30 years old, and we have two friends our age who went to Podunk U, the odds are we went there, too. They can guess your sexual orientation to about an 80% accuracy, as well.
Adam Sadilek (University of Rochester) presented a paper at the Fifth ACM Int. Conf. on Web Search and Data Mining (page723) that blew me away. If nine (9) of our friends include GPS tags to their tweets, an algorithm has a 50% chance to pinpoint our location to within 100 meters. That is not a very comforting thought- especially since I can’t control my friends’ behavior.
There are algorithms to discern our personality from our writings- including our tweets. (I admit that my tweets are carefully developed; as such, I would be insane to consider them impermeable to determine information about myself.) At the 3rd IEEE Int. Conf. Social Computing, (p 149), Jennifer Golbeck presented results about 50 subjects. She scored them on the five personality traits (extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness). Then, she examined their tweets. Folks who use YOU or YOUR tend to be agreeable. Conscientious folks use a lot of colons, and avoid the use of negative words like kill. Basically, she was able to predict trait scores (on a scale of 1 to 5) to within 10% accuracy.
Other folks have studied our smartphone use. Not surprisingly, introverts tend to text one another, while extroverts make longer length calls. It’s why there’s a new app being developed. Anmol Madan (MIT), after studying 70 dormitory residents, is developing an app to determine if you are depressed. After his two year study (along with health surveys), he determined that depressed students spend less time with friends and communicate less frequently. Those facts are not surprising- knowing you can glean that information from one’s cellphone usage is.
Right now, the only power we have to keep these algorithms from working together is segregation. By not linking one app to another. (You know- when some app asks if they can link your information to their app.) Oh, yes, some folks guard their data- YOUR data- but only until they can find a way to profit from their (your) information horde.
So, make sure you strip out GPS information from your pictures before you send them to a friend. Don’t let that app access your Facebook, LinkedIn, WordPress signatures. Otherwise, be prepared to get those unwanted texts, calls, and eMails…
Wow! Scary stuff. I’ll be checking out that paper you referenced. I’ve come to the conclusion that our only defense is staying informed, and keeping a close eye on personal accounts (including bank & credit cards). We’ve pretty much been playing into big brother’s hands for years.
I’m with you, Jenny. Forewarned is forearmed!
I live in a very secluded area and live a very mundane life. So, if Big Brother wants to watch me….then more power to him. My cell phone service is very poor so if someone calls me I probably won’t be able to hear them. I don’t text or receive texts. I don’t have a smart phone. You might think I am depressed because of my cell phone usage but the truth is that my cell phone is a piece of cr*p.
Sorry I went off the deep end about my cell phone. Have a good day, Roy!
Janette Fuller recently posted..Kindle Books For Kids: C Is For China
No problems, Janette. I think you are missing the ramifications of the tracking provided you (or about you). It’s a matter of time before it sets your credit ratings, job opportunities, etc.
I’ve been fascinated by what people can glean from algorithms since I read about the Web bot program, that predicts future events based on (I hope I get this correct) language trend analysis. I think things like that are neat, but like you I don’t want to be tracked either. Even though my I.P. address does that nicely for people already…I do keep my phone GPS off, and I don’t do things like 4 square which is like voluntary tracking in the form of a “game”. I don’t think the general population really realizes what big business personal data collection is, and if they did I wonder what people would do….Big brother is watching, but it seems to be the price we pay for the connection we share in social media, and the information we have at our fingertips through the web. Now, if I could only harness the data to become a rich artist…hmmmm…lol Thank you for your article! Neat food for thought!
Lisa Brandel recently posted..Magen David by Lisa Brandel
Absolutely correct, Lisa. But, it’s time we consumers apply a little corrective action to these collections of data.
This is very useful (yet troubling information) Roy – great insight! Thanks!!
Tor Constantino recently posted..The $5.37 “Caption This” Contest: Vol. 1
Tor, I have had “discussions” with my children, the children of my friends, and their peers, about this. They are absolutely clueless that this goes on.
Roy
Its like one of those issues that exists but I pretend to ignore it because its so overwhelming. Thankfully I don’t get the unwanted texts, emails and phone calls…. yet.
Amanda recently posted..Sand and Water
Yes, Amanda, that is exactly what we all do. We can’t believe it really is what it is- and then when we finally succumb to reason, we are dumbfounded that it is even more pervasive.
Wow! Thanks for an interesting, well-documented post. I belong to the older generation, I must have something like 70 friends on FB and I sometimes go off it for weeks on end. I have no clue whether my apps are linked to FB…I need to check everything now. I will never “get” social media…
MuMuGB recently posted..The Art Of Queuing
It’s a pleasure seeing your name again. And, trust me, I’m from the older generation- and never trusted the marketer’s wily ways.
Thanks for the visit.
It’s only a small step to implanting chips into us like I have in one of my dogs. BTW what and where is that GPS app? You know when new babies are born, they are taken away from the mother for one thing or another. What a perfect time to implant the chip. I am going to crawl further into my hole now. Thanks for the paranoid prattle, Roy.
Oh, I think chips in your body to follow you are way more invasive. The only thing that makes them slightly more positive is that you know you are being tracked, Ann. I’ve had arguments with my kids about how their lives are being tracked – and they thought i was exaggerating the effects. Now, they know.
Hi Roy,
This is interesting stuff for sure! The government has plenty of ways to track people. I’ve heard that there are tracking devices in drivers licenses though I’m not sure to what extent. Trackers are in cell phones.
In response to Ann’s comment above, theoretically they could slip a device into a vaccination easily enough. Look at how they pushed the flu vaccination a couple of years ago. One could wonder if they were really that concerned about the flu or if they might have been more concerned about getting something into the people. I’m not saying that I buy into that but it could be a possibility. I know some people did question that and the government did a good job of getting the public scared not to get the vaccine.
Stacy
Stacy recently posted..So You Want to Publish a Kindle Book
I don’t the flu vaccine program has any of those sorts of issues so involved. And, since we do have rules about collecting DNA evidence (which are under attack by certain parties), it would not serve for that sort of data collection.
The driver’s licenses do not have chips like our passports have- so their ability to serve as trackers is limited. I’ve got my phone’s chip turned off- and it’s why I have more dropped calls than most- but I’ll live with that choice.
Roy
My smartphone is going to be able to tell if I’m depressed? That’s a new one Roy! Well, for me, information that you don’t want to share, then don’t be on the internet, period! I don’t care if you try to block it, code it, cloak it or whatever, if someone really wants to get info on you, you better believe they will find a way.
So it can be bad and it can be good. For me, my business is an open book. For those that constantly share personal things about themselves, even those txt images or photos on Facebook, they are only doing it to themselves. And the newest thing I recently heard …. college kids are giving each other their sign on information to their social sites – not that is just crazy!!
Lynn Brown recently posted..Succeeding In Business With A Winning Attitude
I’m with you, Lynn, on that line. I’m not sure you want your business is an open book (or that it really is). Do you want your potential clients to know how much revenue and profit you make from each of your clients? Do you want potential competitors know the names and contacts of each of your clients?
That’s what an open book really is–
Roy
Hmm. I’m careful, but not careful enough I’d say! I really had no idea that all that information could be tracked. It makes sense that it can be. It’s just based on personality, connections and behavior patterns. But it’s disturbing too! Thanks for this post, Roy!
Leanne Chesser recently posted..Online Time Management: Get It Together With Trello
Thanks for visiting, Leanne.
I am not trying to put my finger in the dike to hold it up- I know that the tide is turning. But, we need to develop regulations to limit the amount of spying these folks can do, the amount of information about us that they can sell—and, until then, make it as hard as possible for them to do so now.
I knew our internet use was being tracked — but I wasn’t aware how “smart” the algorithms are. I am one who doesn’t provide all my contact info on FB but Big Brother still probably knows more about me than I really would like. I guess it is part of the cost of internet connectivity.
Melinda recently posted..Want Your Kids to Astound You?
Melinda:
The bigger issue is that they are coalescing the data from YOUR internet use with data (usually collated on the net) about your grocery purchases, your bill paying (which, in credit card cases, may include their definition of purcahses in areas like gas, vacation, hotels, food, restaurants, medicine, etc.), your telephone calls, and then selling it all to someone else.
So instead of sleeping you are clearing out apps and anything else that can track you Roy? It is scary – on one hand I have nothing to hide but on the other, why do I want people to know anything about me. Its why I try and limit what I use in apps and cell phone and also live in NZ because we are so tiny and insignificant maybe we will get overlooked
Roberta Budvietas, recently posted..7 tips about Business and Time
Roberta,
Having nothing to hide is not the same thing as letting them visit you in the bedroom. Do you really want marketers (or the government) to know why you went to the doctor, how much you spent there, why you do or do not buy perfume, the brands (and how much) of each food item you purchase, the number of times you call your husband during the day, etc.?
No I really do not want them being that nosy but Roy, when we accepted computers and cell phones into our lives, we accepted that at some stage someone would use them to pry. SF for years has warned us. And yet we still keep using the tools blithely ignoring any consequences. And what you point out here is that Big Brother started peering in 1984 but in 2014 he may control more than we want. And I do believe that in many things BB is telling us what to think, feel and do.
Roberta Budvietas, recently posted..7 tips about Business and Time
Hey Roy,
By using social media sites we accept the fact that our data; address, name, email address and whatever other information we include is available to the social media site, app or whatever it maybe.
With the Facebook IPO, Google+ local there are only going to me more and more apps, systems, that are tracking our every movement, sharing our data and profiting from it.
Have you heard of Klout? It is an algorithm that mines all the public data that you have available in Facebook, Twitter etc etc.It then rates your social media influence based on who you react with, what you say, how often you say it. And yest then sells your information to advertisers so they can jump on your influence.
Everyone has it even if they have never signed up to it. The only way to be removed is to trawl through the T&C’s to find the unsubscribe.
In conclusion your data is out there. People are mining it and you might not even know about it.
James Debono recently posted..Don’t Be a Twit Face When Choosing Social Media Channels for Your Business
James,
There’s a chasm of difference between knowing my name, address, and phone number- which is what data marketers have purveyed for decades- and knowing my cell phone carrier, my purchases (especially if you make them via cell phone), my brand selections, my pet’s name and it’s food, the number of times I go shopping, where I buy gas and how much, who I call up every day, the name of my physicians and how much I pay them on and on.
THAT tracking is what has to be stopped.
Roy
I have the GPS app on my phone turned off most of the time. However, you can still be tracked by your calls as they can tell when your phone switches from the towers and can pinpoint location within reason. My husband firmly believes that there are a multitude of ways they are tracking us. Your post has listed several great points, but he thinks there are way more. It definitely would not surprise me at all the things we aren’t aware of that they are using. As always, thank you for the wonderful and insightful information you always provide!
KathieHitt recently posted..Metabolic Syndrome ~ Do You Know Your Risk? (Part 1)
Absolutely correct, Kathie!
One would think that it’s only the rich and famous that get tracked– not!
I think about Big Brother here and there, but don’t let him get to me; otherwise, I might not on your site posting my comments! 😉
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🙂