annehart

How'd those third-party marketers, (that no one takes responsibility for their actions) and perhaps also any possible scammers or at the very least -- unsolicited total strangers trying to sell you what you don't need, find your phone number, email address, and home, your age, and whether your a grandparent or not, whether you own a car, or a house or other personal information about you?

Or did they get your information from information you filled out to enter a contest, join a club or ethnic organization? Or did your dentist get a list from a club you joined who then sold the information to a third party, and the information finally ended up online?

Are third party marketers and those buying lists of your personal data from also guessing you might not be able to check them out before you give an answer on the phone or in junk mail or anything else unsolicited by you? Did your credit union or insurance company sell your private information to third party marketers?

Not only could you be bothered by strangers knocking at your door asking for money or to sell you what you don't want, but any type of business unsolicited could be based on people obtaining detailed personal information about you from a list, including aggressive real estate sales people trying to bully you into selling your home, just because they 'think' you're too old to live in a private home any longer, want to buy your house by low-balling you in price, and think you're better off in a senior apartment complex with viruses and smoke coming through the vents instead of your tiny private house that's well-maintained at your own expense.

The issue is data mining is about too many people with their hands out trying to take away your life savings by selling you what you don't need. Or by hoodwinking you into thinking you're getting something when all you'll be getting is scammed.

Each time the phone rings with another scam call, or some telemarketer trying to sell you something you don't want, or you get so much junk mail or spam email, phishing letters, and other communication asking you to click on some site that will open your computer to crackers, hackers, or others vying for more personal information to clean out your bank account or run up bills and charge them to your name and address, do you wonder from where did all your personal information online or on marketing lists originate?

To paraphrase, it stated that your signature gives this company authorization to use your personal information not only to contact you themselves, but to pass it along to any third party of their choice, including their "marketing partners".  Furthermore, it states that this company assumes no responsibility for any the actions of any third party THEIR third parties choose to give (i.e. sell) your information to.  Can you see the Kevin Bacon game taking shape here?  Bottom line....once you sign this form, you're giving away the farm.

Pretty high price to pay just for a chance to win a cruise.  Then again, most people don't realize the price they're paying.  As a college instructor of mine so eloquently phrased it many years ago, there is no free lunch.

Are you the vigilant type? Data mining is big business, where your name, phone number, address, and email, age, and other information about you is "data mined" and given or sold to many different types of retailers to be used for marketing--to sell you something.

Everybody has a hand out for your hard-earned money. Social networks lead to target advertising data collections. Software providers want your data in order to sell you more software. Other retailers want your email address, phone, home address, age information, income level, and other data which in turn may be subsidized by third parties who want to sell you a product or service.

Your data is spread so far and wide that soon a third party sells your information to someone who sells a list with your information on it to someone else who could sell it to a scammer since a lot of these data lists are used to make money. What results is you are put on many lists. The question is who has access to these lists? Anyone with the money to pay for such lists of mined data?

Are you data minding your data mining routes of world travel? Your data gets around the world on lists. There are sites online that list your phone number, most of your old addresses back for many decades, and even information about how long you lived at each address.

A lot of times they may get the wrong middle name, but a list of your relatives or housemates also could be on such lists. Total strangers may know more about you and sell that information to retailers, scammers, advertisers, and anyone who can buy or obtain such lists of data, some without having to pay for such lists. It's a science within high technology that results in your name, ethnicity, religious affiliation, age, address, phone number, photo, email addresses, relatives living with you, and other information that's on such lists.

The information technology industry that focuses on data mining can find out your social security number, credit card numbers, and any other information. For many years your personal information has been mined, sold, and sometimes even hacked/cracked without you realizing how much information about you already has been mined and sold, sometimes by your bank, credit union, or other institution you use to store personal information and/or your money.

If you fill out a form to enter a contest, the back of the form may have in print so tiny, you may not be able to read it without a magnifying glass that you agree to all terms. You see these types of boxes to be checked also at various online websites, that you agree to all terms...Only some of those terms may involve your privacy issues. What you write on the front of the form may be shared with third parties. But the original company you did business with (or filled out a form to enter any type of contest or mailing list) may state on the back of the form that they take no responsibility for what the third party marketers or other third parties do with your information.

Most people who get constant telemarketer calls, robot calls, or other taped messages usually wonder from where did that third party 'marketer' get their phone number or their e-mail address to send all the spam, the junk mail, or the annoying calls that don't go away when you ask to be taken off a list?

Your personal information such as a phone number, address, or email address could have come from when you registered a product you bought, entered a competition, or filled out your information on some vendor's card at a convention or at a store to get on a mailing list for coupons, or any other way a retailer or wholesaler gets your information. Was it from registering your software or hardware? Or for obtaining a discount coupon from a store? Or perhaps membership in some club?

Most people don't read the entire disclosures before they click on a website or fill out a form. Did your credit union sell your information to third party marketers, who then sold it to someone else, perhaps shady, maybe not? The goal is similar--to get money from you for some item or service. Or did the list with your information eventually end up being purchased or 'hacked' by a scammer? Did you buy some product online? If so, your personal information ends up on a 'list' of one type or another. It's part of the data mining era.

Some businesses let you opt in for privacy by checking a box on a form, for example, some credit unions or banks let you check a box saying you don't want the company to share your private information with third parties. You need to specify in writing that you want such privacy. Otherwise whatever information is shared, also is shared by other businesses who can sell your list to almost anyone who can purchase or 'hack' such data lists. The details are in the disclosures.

The issue is many people don't read the back of the disclosure forms. Instead, they just fill out the front with their personal information to enter some contest or get on a mailing list to receive coupons for discounts or information about upgrades or when new products are coming onto the market. The point is that the original company to whom you gave your information has no responsibility for the actions of third party marketers or what those third party marketers do with your information or to whom they sell your data.