PRIVACY & CONSUMER PROFILING: "THE PRODUCT IS YOU"

[Ronnie]

Geeeeez, where've I been? Did you know the Post Office and the Phone Co. SELL your private information?!

Profiling is the recording and classification of behaviors. This occurs through aggregating information from online and offline purchase data, supermarket savings cards, white pages, surveys, sweepstakes and contest entries, financial records, property records, U.S. Census records, motor vehicle data, automatic number information, credit card transactions, phone records (Customer Proprietary Network Information or "CPNI"), credit records, product warranty cards, the sale of magazine and catalog subscriptions, and public records. Profiling has sparked an entire industry euphemistically labeled "Customer Relations Management" (CRM) or "Personalization."

Companies collect information derived from a number of resources to build comprehensive profiles on individuals in order to sell products and to sell dossiers on behavior. This is often done without notice or extending a choice to the individual to opt-out of the dossier building. These dossiers may be used by marketers for target advertising, and they may be sold to government for law enforcement purposes. Companies also "enhance" dossiers that they already own by combining or "overlaying" information from other databases. These dossiers may link individual's identities to the following attributes:

Social Security Number
Shopping preferences
Health information, including diet type, allergies, arthritis, incontinence/bladder problems, diabetes, hearing loss, prostate problems, and visual impairment, birth defects
Marital status
Financial situation (solvency, creditworthiness, loan amounts, credit cards)
Date of Birth
Sex
Age
Household income
Race and ethnicity
Geography
Physical characteristics, such as height and weight
Household occupants (whether an individual has children)
Telephone number
Utility usage (electric or gas usage, telephone usage, cable or satellite usage, Internet subscription, celluar phone usage)
Magazine subscriptions
Occupation
Level of education
Whether an individual is likely to respond to "money-making opportunities"
Congressional district
Size of clothes worn
Habits (smoking)
Arrest records
Lifestyle preferences
Hobbies (whether and what the individual collects)
Religion (affiliation and denomination)
Homeownership
Characteristics of residence (size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, sale price, rent and mortgage payments)
Type of automobile owned
Characteristics of automobile owned (year, make, value, fuel type, number of cylinders, presence of vanity or special membership plates)
Whether the individual responds to direct mail solicitations
Contributions to political, religious, and charitable groups
Membership in book, video, tape, and compact disk clubs
Mail order purchases and type
Product ownership (beeper, contact lenses, electronics, fitness equipment, recreational equipment)
Pet ownership and type
Interests (including gambling, arts, antiques, astrology)
Book preferences
Music preferences
"Socialites"


These profiles are also indexed by other factors, such as wealth. For instance, American List Counsel sells an "ultra affluent database" that is overlaid with information on age, sex, and presence of children. The database includes the individuals' home phone numbers. Many of the "affluent persons" databases are mined from public record filings (Security and Exchange Commission, State Corporations Registration lists) where individuals are compelled by law to reveal their personal information.

Lots more here http://www.epic.org/privacy/profiling/
Home Page: EPIC Resources on Domestic Surveillance http://www.epic.org/

 

[Guest]

We might as well face it that personal information does not mean private any more. Pretty soon the cameras will be IN our homes, although we are not quite at THAT extreme yet. It's interesting that consumer behaviour is associated with one's psychological profile. Perhaps one can confuse the questionnairs on occasion regarding preferences, and provide contradictory information, or veer off from consistent patterns when buying things. Of course inconsistencies in behaviour (if they feel they cannot pin you down) makes THEM suspicioius.

Well, if private is now public, maybe we can set up a public persona (to the extent possible) so as to give a "benign" impression. These people seem to look at the details and draw their own conclusions. Things are changing and what we took for granted before (like privacy of personal information) is taking on a new dimension.

This fits with your previous post. When they know your personal profile they can fit you into their little program. Well, people who gauge others on consumer preferences and the other parameters you mentioned are unrealistic if they think they can predict behaviour of a real complex ensouled person through that information. That's why they want us to be frightened little robots. People with integrity, who stand tall with each other in their own families and personal relationships are unpredictable to these grid-plotters, no matter how many lists of personal information they pass around.

 

[Justin]

Well, people who gauge others on consumer preferences and the other parameters you mentioned are unrealistic if they think they can predict behaviour of a real complex ensouled person through that information. That's why they want us to be frightened little robots. People with integrity, who stand tall with each other in their own families and personal relationships are unpredictable to these grid-plotters, no matter how many lists of personal information they pass around.

Exactly! I often fill out forms with incorrect information, so who knows what they think of that. It's mostly because I don't want to receive junk mail and telemarketing calls.