User:Charpeng

When first beginning my search on my online data profile most of my results came up as completely empty or wrong, and it was only until after narrowing the search down thoroughly using address and close relatives were some Data-brokering services able to find basic information on me. Most information presented at the surface level before hitting a paywall was close relatives and location of my house. After getting past the paywall on one service Spokeo, all information on my parents such as ages, year of birth, phone numbers, and any other social media services subscribed to were shown. The PDF report downloaded from the website contained my base Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, and TripAdvisor profiles and usernames. Most of the data presented on me was up to date with the most current information such as profile pictures, list of addresses, relatives, and emails of those relatives. The Spokeo service didn’t have previous home addresses but was updated on the current resident addresses also including property information, number of rooms, date of purchase, as well as the estimate of the property value. Data from Spokeo did not include any embodiments of myself as none of my social media profiles contain pictures of myself. However, the social media sites that I am active on with photos of myself were not included in the report and did not show embodiments of myself. Much of my data on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat are private and can only be viewed by those who are either following or friended and therefore this private information is not presented in the databases that these Data-Brokering services subscribe to. Another aspect of data mining was scraping information about relatives such as my mother and father who are homeowners and generate tax reports through the workforce. After doing more searching on another Data-Brokering service InfoTracer, I was able to generate a PDF report on my mother which contained no images of her real-self, gender, or household income. However, the data service was able to pull home phone numbers and personal email addresses of the search object. The temporality of the data was off by a decade or so, and it was evident that the much of the data wasn’t updated in while. A target’s search information was compiled into a large PDF report centered around property values and household incomes or net worth. Much of one’s online identity was tracked down based off tax brackets, household income, or some monetary form that was searchable through databases. When attempting to use search engines to find my online presence, the information that was presented at the top of a Google search was related to my LinkedIn profile that had followers and is information that I willingly present in hopes of job recruiters reaching out. This personally updated information was the only platform that had authentic, updated information and an embodiment of my tangible self. Many of the free Data-Brokering services were only surface-level information and many of the different services were restricted by a paywall. Almost none of the personal information within social media profiles was released in InfoTracer or Spokeo and only a base outer glance of the profile was released. The Data-Brokers only revealed the bare minimum and required money because many of the services purchased data in bulk and wouldn’t release the rest of the information for free. The initial report included Facebook, Amazon, and LinkedIn profiles that were correct, home-phone number and an aggregate list of sex offenders in the area. There was also a list of possible vehicles owned or driven however the data was not accurate. Many of the services’ databases were dependent on tax revenue, business ownership, property ownership, and income. However, as a young adult without a job that cannot be taxed, and no property signed under my name, many databases struggled to create an online profile because much of the information was unavailable. Social media information such as friends, comments, or chats were not available for Data-brokering services because of the password protection behind social media platforms. Being someone that is not prevalent on social media, much of my identity isn’t tied to those platforms so the data identity created by Data-Brokers is tied to relatives, addresses, and education. The ethical side of the information presented on the Data-Broker services is still considered private information and shouldn’t be released without consent from the users whose information it is. Any release of information without consent from the user seems unethical if the owner whose the information pertains to is unaware. The online identities that I reveal online aren’t of importance to me however the ethics of my information being sold out to other companies to be targeted without consent seems unethical. The values that I present on these platforms are not completely representative of who I am, and my true values are tied to real life interactions. Most interactions that are a part of my life are done in real life, and my online presence is connected to consuming content instead of creating or posting it. Although, the information shown on services such as Spokeo or InfoTracer are without consent there are millions of people whose data is collected through these Data-Brokers and most databases do not have sensitive information such as web history. However, criminal records and sex offenses are shown because incidents such as those are recordable through government bases. The parts of my online identity that are sensitive to me are pieces of information such as web history, personal preferences, or password information. Of the three, web history and password information are extremely difficult to obtain through data collecting but personal preferences and interests are constantly being collected and sifted through to target specific ads. The case of Cambridge Analytica and Facebook in cohorts together over millions of users’ data without users knowing became a large scandal in modern day privacy. However, although Facebook knowingly sold millions of users’ data, much of it was basic information that would help the firm give the targeted audience specific ads. As someone who just recently acquired the right to vote, being targeted by these political advertisements wouldn’t change my opinions on what side I’d learn towards and is only polarizing towards the negative. My personal preferences and interests that are collected by these massive firms are only one in millions of users’ and to me, that data is not very valuable when viewing it from the scope of only one person. However, together all this data farmed by these third-party firms without consent still seems highly unethical. The online presence that I have is limited to the notable achievements I’ve accomplished in my life such as amassing a large number of followers on LinkedIn or winning the state championships in tennis in High School. Attempting to search for myself online only resulted in two accurate and authentic articles that depicted my interview with the school newspaper on upsetting the first and third seeds of the state tournament. Attempting to find myself online, only revealed my past tennis career which was registered with the United States Tennis Association and updates my Universal Tennis Rating as time goes on. Winning the state tournament in high school was a large beacon to local newspapers and the Michigan High School Athletic Association. These official high school tournaments are well-documented throughout the state and concluding every year, the results are announced in their newspaper. The accomplishments that are noted online are only those that are registered through some database and reported about. Much of my reconstructed data identity only included my age and relatives which I embrace as a part of my identity, however personal preferences, interests, and hobbies are what truly make up the majority of my identity. These preferences aren’t shown in databases and therefore data-broker services aren’t able to retrieve them. I am aware that most apps will collect data on what you’re browsing in the background and make notes as you use the application more. After learning about the Cambridge Analytica, I turned off third parties collecting my preference data. The majority of my online representation is prevalent throughout applications such as Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Snapchat but most of the time is spent consuming others’ data and rarely ever posting content.

While my data may not be all that valuable from my perspective, the ethics of large technology companies collecting millions of unaware users’ data and selling it for political advertising seems solely controlled by the application developers and creators. As users using the application that is made free by most developers, the application creators are in control of making user data private or public. Although, after the Cambridge Analytica scandal many Facebook users became insecure about their data, they willingly shared data on the application and the risk of putting that data out there is a concern that should be assessed when using it.