Is Roger Blake your real name? Google has 33,000,000 hits on it. One of them may be you.
You do kep a low profile, but if you ever had your name in the newspspwr or the like, they may have something.
Or, they may insist that you *remove* it! E.g., walk into a bank with a cap and sunglasses and you'll quickly draw attention to yourself!
The difference is, you have the option of *not* using their services! There's no way to "opt out" of NSA surveillance!
I self-censor what I discuss with folks based on their email provider. This isn't foolproof; google handles mail for some ISP's without applying their name to the domain!
China and Britain have excessive monitoring capabilities.
As to "never actually use", I contend that the volume of data collected defies anything other than *targeted* use -- looking for something *specific*.
You can use Big Data to identify trends. But, only if those trends manifest in reasonably "static" ways. E.g., if someone placed a Craigslist ad in January using a particular phrasing; then visited the Bolshoi ballet 9 months later (and happened to use the men's lavatory on the second floor); then placed a phone call to a particular phone number 2 months later, you'd be hard pressed to extract this relationship from the amount of data you've collected. Even if it was a 100% positive indicator of of interest to you!
Instead, you look for more static data that "stands out" by itself in shorter terms or with less associated "noise" (e.g., wanting flying lessons and being of middle eastern descent)
The problem runs the other way: companies collecting data (because they can, legally -- part of the terms of use that you acknowledged but didn't read0 and then the gummit accessing that data (search warrants, voluntary disclosure, patriot act, surreptitious hacking, etc.).
Do you avoid contact with EVERYONE who has a gmail account? Are you sure someone hasn't forwarded one of your messages to someone else who does?? Are you sure MyISP.com isn't subcontracting their mail services to Google??
Have you avoided every web site that uses scripts supplied from other domains (googleadservices, ackamai, etc.)? Does your IP address change frequently? MAC address? Do you alter the fingerprint of your web browser with each HTTP request? Do you ever click on links (which provide referrer tracebacks)? Does your ISP share information with others (warrants, voluntarily, etc.) without your consent?
There are many articles that decry the absurdity of "anonymous" data sets; showing how many of them fail to truly hide identifying information.
My eyes opened when I was in school (70's) and exposed to the capabilities of (at that time, newly modern) technology.
My sister suspected my BinL of being unfaithful. Looking at *her* phone records (which also covering *his* phone use), it was easy to show which days he had CLAIMED to be "at work" -- yet was dozens of miles from work! It was possible to actually track his travels along the roadways by noticing which cell towers handled his calls along the way!
Looking at the phone numbers involved made it pretty easy to sort out
*who* he was "meeting up with".Likewise, look at the credit card transactions on those days and times and you can further confirm the "evidence" from the phone record.
"Oooops!"
In the late 70's, I worked for Kurzweil Computer Products. We made a machine that "read books" (or newspapers!). It was oriented towards visually impaired users (Xerox now owns the technology).
Imagine (remember, this is 40 years ago!) someone sitting down and placing each page of each major newspaper on the scanner, waiting for it to "read" the text on that page, feeding that text into a database that notes the publication, date, page number, etc. for later (or current!) analysis.
Imagine MANY of these machines (they weren't particularly fast) staffed by an army of GRUNTS. I.e., even without access to the typesetting equipment of these newspapers, you could still get "current data" in essentially "real time"! Store a photographic copy of the page as you are scanning it (TIFF) and you can then have a human analyst "review" any articles that a machine has deemed interesting (e.g., look at the photos associated with the article).
With todays technology, you could *photograph* pages quickly and scan them just as fast -- without resorting to a serial, mechanical "scanner".
But, you're doing this every day just to remain "current" with the latest publications. When does the volume of data overwhelm your ability to process it in a meaningful way?
That would be telling. :-) For the sake of this discussion you may assume that I don't use real names in anything online. It is not an uncommon name in any event, there's even a UK actor by that name. Maybe that's me? (Probably not.) Anyhow if it's real someone would have to check quite a few people out.
I'm not completely off the grid by any means of course. That's why I say a "modicum" of privacy. You'd pretty much have to live in a shack out in the woods to be completely anonymous. I just believe in making whoever might be interested work for the information rather than simply handing it over to them. (One example is I do not receive any targeted ads. How I spend my money is nobody else's business. Never even received an AARP invite, and they're pretty relentless.)
Hasn't happened. Likely won't except for possibly an obituary after which it won't matter to me much. The young people out there are the ones who are really going to have to deal with the consequences of living in a full-blown police state.
My ISP for email is myself. :-) I use a variety of different email addresses for different people and different purposes. (I'll use one-time throwaways on free services sometimes just to sign up for something and then don't use that account ever again.
It's not perfect, but I don't just hand information over willingly. Someone is going to have to do some digging and analysis.
I use a browser armored to the hilt where I control who can run scripts and what other domains can be contacted. I use a foreign-based VPN service that offers quite a few exit points and keeps no logs. Yes, I have an addon that randomly changes the browser fingerprint. My ISP has no idea what goes through my home connection beyond initiation of the VPN tunnel. They have no information to share.
Another good reason to pay in cash.
*This* is the clincher! folks who voluntarily GIVE AWAY information! It *obviously* has value -- else others wouldn't WANT IT! So, why would you just give it away? Unlike something tangible, you can never "get it back"!
And, giving it to folks who will then easily make it accessible to others is doubly stupid! *They* make money off of something you've SURRENDERED to them!
Buy a car, own real estate, get a divorce, have someone name you in a lawsuit, have a driver's license, accept a package from UPS/FedEx, win an award/honor, participate in a charitable organization, own a business (or be an officer of any institution), etc.
I was contacted by a "strange woman" some years ago. She made an inquiry into one of my *aunts*: "Do you happen to know _______?"
Being careful to protect *other* people's information, I was coy and didn't directly respond: "Who are you and why are you asking?"
Turns out, she was a child that my aunt had given up for adoption some 40 years earlier. So, she had gained access to her birth mother's name (which is protected, by law!), managed to research her mother at the time of her own birth, identify any relatives and then find me -- her "cousin" -- on line.
[The last part being relatively easy -- I don't try to be "anonymous"; rather, I just want to be "hard to contact". E.g., list your phone under a different name, use a *private* postal box (not a POBox as those have rules regarding how the information can be disclosed)]DerbyDad03 posted for all of us...
their service etc till
lacingmy one van....
cles branch...
ased through private sale? How do you get plates the same day as the purcha se?
Through one of title places or a notary (whom usually does not have plates) one can also get temp plates which cling to back window and pink sales paperwork will make you good to go.
Then your MAC address is exposed -- uniquely identifying your machine (at least to your upsteam connections).
I use a variety of "disposable" email addresses simply because I don't want to keep a server on-line *and* want to be able to shed an address if someone that I've entrusted it with "slips up" and shares it (or has their account hacked). Knowing who I've given each address to allows me to know how it may have "leaked" and who I should hold accountable.
I use guerilla mail for onetime contact (e.g., craigslist is notorious for email harvesting; let them harvest an email address that no longer works! :> )
I spent a fair bit of time, deacades ago, trying to get my name removed from "reputable" mailing lists. Ever since, I've opted to just use a specific address for each such list and just terminate the account when I no longer want to receive mail from them.
This makes your browser appear more unique! Given your range of IP addresses and browser "uniqueness", you can probably be easily identified (though not "named"). When I surf the web, my browser is locked down hard -- no script, no flash, etc. When SWMBO uses the same machine/IP to browse the web, her browser is more "typically" configured. I.e., anyone watching (e.g., google searches) knows that there are (at least) two different users, here.
Again, that makes you stand out. You want to resemble Average Joes if you want to be harder to "identify".
Preaching to the choir, here! I paid my *tuition* in cash (though decades ago, it was only a few $K / semester; OTOH, a few $K might well be equivalent to today's rates!).
But, this sort of "profiling" also has worked in my favor. I purchased my first two computers for ~$8,000/ea and charged them. The guy at the store was flabbergasted when he phoned in the credit charge: "They didn't even want to *talk* to you (to verify your identity)!" Someone else making such a big purchase might have stood out as "unusual"...
We carry towing coverage on our auto insurance. It's a small fee -- used to be something like $3/6 mos -- I think it is double that, now. Only used it once so I'm "behind" if you want to count that sort of thing.
OTOH, when I needed it, I just handed the receipt to my local agent and he wrote out a check, on the spot.
That's it. Obviously if someone thinks I'm interesting enough they'll be able to do some digging and put some things together. I'm not going to willingly hand over the info though, whoever wants it is going to have to work for it.
For those sufficiently serious about it there are ways around that too with dummy corporations, holding companies, etc. They can be penetrated of course but someone will have to work at it.
Pretty much the same thing I'm after. I'm not naive enough to think that nobody would be able to put some pieces together. I just don't hand it all over on a silver platter.
The MAC address is only used on the local LAN. The ISP gateway device does not see it. They only have the MAC of the router between their gateway and my LAN, which I can change at will since the router runs Linux and is completely under my control. But it's not really a concern since all they can see is a VPN tunnel established. There is traffic flow analysis possible of course, but that's very general and there are countermeasures to that as well if it becomes a problem.
Also a good way to do it. I've been working with the internet, mail servers, etc. since the early 1980s so for me it's trivial to have and control my own servers.
The "named" (and "located") part is what I would be most concerned about. As I said, no targeted ads, so I'm managing to keep 'em at bay.
They still don't know exactly who I am or what my actual location is. That's more important to me than some piece of analytical software seeing "oh, it's some anonymous guy again."
Much of the law has been changed. Both our kids found their birth parents easily when they wanted to.
My ex BIL had a daughter show up at his door 20 years later too. Surprise!
My bank does have a hat, hood, sunglasses sign.
I'm tempted to do like the pilot on the comedy Airplane, and come in with ten layers of hood, hat, sun glasses, visor, nose and mustache glasses, safety visor, and the list goes on.
Likely get arrested for it, but it would be a brief laugh for me. On the way to booking, of course.
It depends on the state where the adoption was recorded and the agency (or private individual) involved. OTOH, with a bit of work, you can bypass these restrictions; or, find a "sympathetic soul" to drop a name or two.
That's what my "cousin" eventually did. And had the door closed in her face.
My wife's SinL found out late in life that she was adopted and had a similar experience.
This is another one of those "tough" issues to address. Folks give up kids with the understanding that they can put it behind them. Then, later, someone (legislator with no skin in the game) decides the rules should retroactively be changed.
I think, nowadays, even places that keep records sealed will initiate contact on your behalf and, if welcomed by the birth parent, either facilitate communication (acting as a proxy) *or* exchange identifying information.
There's an argument to be made for facilitating the exchange of medical history (esp if it is *updated* medical history! Who cares what ailments your birth parents DIDN'T have when they were 20! More important to know what they have as they approach "Carrousel" [sic]!
OTOH, I'm told much of this information can now be determined without "history". Of course, at a cost!
Not how I enjoy getting my jollies!
When I lived in Chitown, I would often have to pick up or drop off friends stopping in for a visit, business or even a lengthy layover.
When returning with them to the terminal (departures) I would recite a little speech: "I'm going to point something out to you. I don't want you to say A WORD! KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!!" This invariably got their curiosity piqued (Don isn't normally this SERIOUS!!).
Then, I would point out a series of signs. All had the general appearance of the "no smoking" sign: a red circle with a slash through it superimposed on an image of a cigarette.
The interesting one replaced the cigarette with a black bowling ball with a burning "wick"...
[Yeah, I know what it is, I told you to look at it! You don't need to tell the entire TERMINAL what it is!!!]
Mine too. I ignore it. I've told them I need the sunglasses due to an eye condition. (I wear the big wrap-around kind that people typically wear after cataract surgery.) They've never bothered me about wearing a hat or cap. Of course they've known me for years there so it probably doesn't make any difference.
I don't know if there would be anything actually illegal about it, you'd have to look up any relevant statutes. It may be just the bank's policy. In that case they might be within their rights to refuse service but they would not be able to have you arrested. I've never looked that deeply into it.
I write OS's. But, I have no desire to *maintain* a machine that's just sitting on-line waiting to be hacked. I don't keep my firesafe and the valuables it contains out in the front yard, either! But, it sure would be safer (from fire!), there -- and, far more convenient to haul away in the event of one! :>
For the most part, they (businesses) don't care who you are. Just like they don't care who is sitting in front of the TV watching their commercials. OTOH, if they can correlate a particular sale with a particular advert, then they know the ad is effective *and* which household "succumbed" to the ad!
[Commercials are selectively replaced/overlaid in certain markets. So, only certain groups might be exposed to a particular commercial. When they take advantage of the offer (mail order, online or in person: "use promo code ABC123"), they self-identify as having been a victim of that ad.With "smart TV's", expect this sort of targeted advertising to be refined in coming years. You may see a different ad than your neighbor. And, the ad may be "sprung" on you at a different time than your neighbor (because the TV can "buffer" the actual broadcast while the TV plays the ad that it has previously buffered!).
As TV's now can *watch* and listen to the viewing room, they can decide when to best peddle their sponsors' wares!
This is just the same as WWW advertising on your TV! And, because its a closed, proprietary system, the TV & content vendors can lock you out so you have no recourse but to put up with this!]
I don't keep anything important on it, if it gets hacked I would just restore the initial image back to it and try to secure it better.
That's the info I don't want them to have.
I don't plan on buying one. (Still using old CRT sets here.) I'm surprised anyone would buy a device that even in some cases the manufacturers have warned people not to discuss sensitive issues in front of the set!.
Again, that just draws attention to yourself. "What are you trying to hide? Why are you taking these elaborate, co$tly steps? Why not just do it the way 99.999999% of the population does?"
What is amusing is how easily people are intimidated/cowed into disclosing things that they don't have to. When I moved here, a couple of ladies showed up on the front porch one day to inquire as to my "religious delusion": "I don't see how that's any of your business!" "Well, are you at least *Christian*?" (Hmm, I guess Christian must be the bottom of the barrel given their use of the phrase "at least") Again, "I don't see how that's any of your business!"
I guess I didn't realize that it's acceptable practice to knock on strangers' doors and ask highly personal questions! Had I known, at the time, I'd have asked them of their sexual activities and preferences, perhaps they were gay lovers? Or, perhaps they'd
*like* to be?? :>In previous locations, the "Welcome Wagon" lady would show up with a fruit basket and book of coupons: "Sorry, I don't like fruit! And, coupons are such a PITA to keep track of!". Then, close the door.
(No, you don't need to know my name, how many folks are in my family, what we do for a living, religious practices, etc. And, you expect us to forfeit all of this "intelligence" for a basket of dubious fruit??)
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