this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2024
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The best thing is these companies will say it's not violation of your privacy because they sell the data without a direct link to your name or address. But guess what? They bundle it with all kinds of other identifiers like age, sex, weight, approximate location, whatever else you give them. The insurance company then takes that and modifies the category that is specifically this age bracket, approximate location, weight, age, beer and donuts in the fridge. And surprise! You fit all these "anonymous" identifiers.
But no harm done, your identity is safe ๐
it would seem like someone's name is the least useful data point
That's the whole thing about browser fingerprinting too. Take the set of internet users who have a particular version of a particular operating system, a particular version of a particular browser, having a particular set of typefaces installed, having a particular language preference, and you'll find yourself in the intersection of all of them.
Remember, kids, it only takes 32 bits to uniquely identify any person on the planet. That's 32 yes or no questions. Of course, they have to be perfectly crafted questions, but identifying power of fingerprinting must not be underestimated.
Clearly we all need to upgrade our personalities to a new 64-bit architecture.
Actually I think the world population is such that you need to add one or two bits.
Ok, fine, 33 bits ๐ Wikipedia says the world population is 8 billion, and python tells me that
math.log2(8e9)
is 32.897.