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by autoexec 1 day ago
This should get you started at least. Keep in mind that nobody is going to tell you that they charged you extra or didn't give you a job offer because of data collected from a data broker. No one is going to be transparent about how they use your data against you.

None of the data being collected about you ever goes away. It doesn't matter if the data comes from you. or your backdoored streaming stick, the more data they have associated with you, the more opportunists exist for you to be screwed over by it.

It's almost impossible for a person to know when or how their offline life is being influenced because of the dossiers containing their online activity, but it absolutely impacts the prices you pay, the policies businesses will tell you they have, the opportunities you are offered, and even how long companies leave you on hold when you call them on the phone.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/data-brokers-selling-personal-i...

https://web.archive.org/web/20191130221040/https://www.nytim...

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057/s41272-019-002...

https://www.mccarter.com/insights/ftc-surveillance-pricing-s...

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/17/6294415...

https://nypost.com/2022/12/20/how-employers-spy-on-your-sear...

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/04/16/data-mining-is-now-used-to-s...

https://www.wired.com/story/minnesota-lawmaker-shootings-peo...

https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-data-brokers-are-a-threa...

https://sites.sanford.duke.edu/techpolicy/wp-content/uploads...

https://epic.org/data-broker-helped-anti-abortion-group-targ...

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nsa-purchases-americans-int...

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2014/04/...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/13/mental-...

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/senate-votes-to-...

https://www.vice.com/en/article/data-brokers-netflow-data-te...

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/11/debunking-myth-anonymo...

1 comments

Which one is about someone who had more expensive health insurance because they ran a residential proxy?
The one titled: Health Insurers Are Vacuuming Up Details About You — And It Could Raise Your Rates

The article says that health insurance companies are buying data from data brokers and using algorithms to set prices according to what you do online and what your "personal interests are".

It makes no difference if you run a residential proxy or not, using your browsing history (or your streaming stick's browsing history) data brokers will give insurance companies information that can be used to set your health insurance rates. The more clicks made over your internet connection, the more data they have to make assumptions about you with.

Remember, you asked for evidence that "any of this ever happened to anyone". There are also links showing that employers are buying up data based on your online activity and using it for hiring decisions, that the prices for things you buy are determined by your online activity, that what you do online has real world impacts on your life offline, and that extremists are using data brokers to identify targets.

So in other words it doesn't say someone got higher health insurance rates because they ran a residential proxy.

You know this argument works for everything, right? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proving_too_much

Do you buy processed food from the grocery store? You know that makes your insurance go up, right?

It's reasonable that if health insurance companies are collecting data on the types of groceries people buy, that they will use that information in ways that they feel will benefit them. You can lead a man to data, but you can't make him think.