The real-world equivalent of this practice is someone stalking you 24/7, noting your every move, with little or no consequence. And while it initially appears as a harmless way to sell you more things, data brokerage has evolved to affect everything from your credit scores to insurance premiums.
So, what can you do to make it hard for data brokers to buy and sell your data?
Make It Harder for Data Brokers to Capture Your Data
When it comes to data brokering, your data is more valuable when it is more granular. For this reason, decentralizing information about yourself is the key to making your data unusable or difficult to sell.
Here are some methods you can try to keep your info away from data brokers, or at least make it harder for them to use it.
1. Don’t Use Your Real Name in Sign-ups
Many companies will try to get you to sign-up for their mailing lists, loyalty cards, and other databases in exchange for coupons, discounts, and other freebies. While many brands simply use these for their internal promotions, some companies sell their databases to data brokers as well.
To bypass this, use a fake name to sign up to unnecessary websites, avail promotions, and get the benefits of joining their database without compromising your identity.
This applies to data gathering practices offline as well, like brand activations and events. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, there’s little incentive for you to give away your actual name to advertisers.
2. Have Multiple Email Addresses and Phone Numbers
Data brokers often use certain key data points to verify your identity. While there’s nothing really you can do when it comes to public records that have your real name and contact details; you can still avoid giving these away unnecessarily.
When browsing online, try to keep the different facets of your life separate. If possible, have different contact information for work, personal life, banking transactions, and so on.
It’s also good to have a throwaway email address and burner phone you can use for sign-ups that are not that important or that you will only need to access once.
3. Keep Your Medical Information Off the Internet
For those recovering from medical issues, it can be a cathartic experience to share your journey with the world. In some ways, it can be inspirational and a breath of fresh air from toxic newsfeeds. However, this can be a source of information by data brokerage companies, especially if you post it publicly.
Aside from this, regular social media check-ins to locations, such as hospitals and pharmacies, and the dozens of health and fitness apps in the market provide critical information about your overall health and wellbeing.
These are pertinent information for medical information data brokers to use and sell. For example, data brokers can sell this information to insurance providers, affecting your premiums, and to predatory health companies.
4. Disable Cookies When Browsing
Cookies are the bane of the internet. They’re little critters that track you long after you’ve left a website, and they’re what companies use to bring you targeted advertisement. Thankfully, many browsers have put their foot down blocked most cookies from working on them.
However, many sneaky sites still take advantage of bad user interfaces to force users to enable them. In some cases, they even prevent the full functionality of a site until cookies are accepted.
When possible, always say no to cookies and opt for browsers that work to anonymize your browsing.
5. Avoid Unnecessary Smart Home Devices
These days, smart home devices are increasingly becoming part of our everyday life. While there are many useful, practical, and even lifesaving uses for smart home devices, there are also some dangers in the data they gather on us.
In fact, there are a growing number of scams related to smart home devices; wherein data brokers gather information about users. Unfortunately, this data can lead to drained bank accounts, home invasion, and more when compromised.
For this reason, it’s essential to evaluate how much of your home actually needs to be smart and try to keep it at a minimum.
6. Choose Where You Pay With Credit or Debit Card
Building your credit score is never a bad idea. However, some credit card purchases can do more harm than good for your overall credit.
Financial information data brokers insinuate your financial status based on your purchases, so regularly using your credit or debit card on small amounts in cheap places will build a picture of someone struggling financially and prone to debt. With this, you’ll also be a target for shady financial services like payday loans.
If possible, pay cash for small purchases or use anonymous payment methods like Cash App. Then, reserve your credit or debit card for larger, more expensive purchases or experiences instead.
Keep Your Data Off Data Broker Hands
At the heart of it, data brokers are allowed to do what they do on the premise of ongoing consent. That’s why they’re taking advantage of our assumption that the internet is a free, fun place where no one is keeping track of what we share.
Thankfully, we have the option to opt-out. But since our data is what makes them money, data brokers don’t make it easy for anyone to do so. Concerned consumers have to jump through endless hoops just to get their names off data brokerage databases.
Sometimes, this requires sending valid IDs, faxing physical forms, and going through multiple pages. In addition, different data brokerages can simultaneously hold your data, so you have to go through all of them if you want to get off their list.
Furthermore, the most advanced data brokers can insinuate information about you simply from public records and the data of the people you’re always in proximity with.
The only way we can fully wrestle back control of our data is through intervention via effective legislation. In the meantime, we can make data brokers’ lives harder by being careful with our personal information.
