Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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Online shopping, privacy and behavior prediction. A rant. (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 2 months ago by FineCoatMummy@sh.itjust.works to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

10 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So years ago I made an account on an online shopping platform. I took pains to do it as privately as I could. Shipping address as PO box. Didn't use real name to sign up. Masked credit card for payment. Etc.

I had it for IDK like 6 years? 7 years? I didn't use it a LOT, but let's say once a month avg. Over those years I had 100% the best feedback rating. I never caused any prob to anyone. I acted in good faith.

Suddenly one day... account canceled. Contacted company. They said send us copy of your gov photo ID. I said how about no?

I know it was b/c my account triggered some predictive anti abuse system. Scammers do a lot of what I did. Diff is, I was not a scammer. I just wanted some privacy. Wasn't even buying anything embarrasing. Just normal shit.

I thought since I got 6+ yrs of history, spend like mid 4 digits of $$ total, zero probs, perfect feedback for 6 years, I figured hey maybe I wouldn't be lumped in. But fuck me sideways.

Funny thing is. I had an older acct under my real name. It had LESS total purcahse history. By a lot. I never submitted any ID to create it. It's still there. It still works. Diff is, it's tied to my home addy and real name. It didn't trigger anti-abuse prediction. ANd it is prediction! I never abused anything, and never would.

More and more, I can't participate in the world, if I try to protect myself from data brokers that collect every fucking thing I do.

I'm sorry. I just had to rant lol. What is your experience with online shopping, if you try to set it up not tied directly to your name, phone, & home addy?

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[–] FineCoatMummy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I guess this group doesn't have rules against mentioning commercial co's, so it's OK if I say it? They're called Ironvest. It's fairly cheap. The plan I have gives me unlimited masked emails, and masked credit cards. Also some other things.

Sometimes, I use my real name with a masked card. I'll do that for companies that already have to know who I am for KYC or w/e reason. But I can still avoid my normal CC company selling my history. In other cases I will use a fictious name with the masked card, for when I want to buy sth but they don't need to know my real identiy. Like I've bought digital music like that. I wanted to support the artist and even the music store who sells DRM free. But didn't want the music store selling my music prefs. I want to give them my $$, not my data lol.

Should go without saying, everyone who uses privacy services shouldn't use them to be a dick. If too many ppl try to abuse them, we will lose what very few options we have to protect from data brokers. Not tryin to accuse you ofc. Just putting it out there as general advise for all.

[–] valar@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I don't know what the rules are, but thanks for the tip! I'm not asking for any nefarious reasons, I'm just a normal person who values privacy.

[–] FineCoatMummy@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months ago

Yup understood, me too.

Hopefully the group is small enough still to not be a big astroturf target, so company mentions are OK. I guess mods can remove if they want. At the mo, it seems like mostly real humans here. Could change eventually I guess.