The worst is the only way I know how to "freeze credit" to protect from identity theft and credit theft is to use these three bureaus. Two of the three charge a membership fee to freeze and unfreeze our credit.
I gots 4 more cords of wood, needs choppin', you offerin'? I got sandwiches and cold drinks, but you can't chop much past 10:00 a.m. in the century mark heat.
Unfortunately it’s already been in process for a while, it was slow, had some regulatory hurdles, but this fraudulent regime wants to speed things along, no regulation, no accountability, and it’s all very corrupted. Don’t trust them.
There's not a lot you can do about any of this. Once you have a digital footprint, you can't go back. But you can opt out using the links on the Experian, Equifax and Transunion pages. It's usually a link at the bottom of the home page either to the "Privacy Center" or it will say Do Not Sell My Data. You might as well opt out of as much as you can.
You should also search your name and variations of it on Google. Each of the "white pages" type of databases displaying your personal information has options to have your profile removed but it's a real pain in the ass to do that for multiple sites and there are usually at least a few dozen of them. I've had great success with a service that scans all of the sites and opts out for you for each one. I had a decently priced subscription for a couple of months and then thought, well, if they haven't gotten to all of them so be it. But when I just searched a few days ago, I only found one site that I easily submitted a removal request to. So the service i used was way more effective than I would have guessed.
What was more alarming is that I've had the same unique username for many, many years. I found a website that had a "profile" linking that username directly to my real name and showed every associated account. You know how fast I moved to request removal of those? Lightning speed.
Finally, DiB shared this link in a previous post about the credit reporting agencies. I just finished going through the top 10 one by one and opting out. Be aware that you must submit multiple requests. Don't sell my data, delete my data, show me my data and do not sell my private, sensitive data. You have to submit a unique request for each option on most of these data broker sites.
I'm not going to lie. If you aren't internet savvy like I am, it's not easy to scrub even this small amount of data. It takes time and serious effort to navigate all of these options. It's like when they want you to accept cookies on a website and then you have to click learn more to reject them and sometimes toggle off multiple options. Yes, it's easier to click the accept button. Don't do it. Always look for a link if there's no reject all or only use necessary button. It's worth it to take an extra minute or two. I also use a VPN.
I'm also not going to lie that any of these steps even come close to scrubbing your data fully or erasing your digital footprint or protecting you that much. You still have to try because otherwise, you're basically giving them full consent to do all of this to you and more. At least we can try to make them do better. I hope these tips help someone who needs them.
No, I don't really believe that and ynd you clearly didn't read the last paragraph where I explicitly stated that it doesn't do that or even help that much. Thanks for playing.
Thanks for this. I have a credit card just for emergencies, though I haven't needed it for ages. Should I just cancel the card? Are they more dangerous than they're worth?
Drop it like it's hot. put $500 mixed bills inside a pizza roll and stuff it in the back of your freezer, or tape it behind the toilett. You will be better off. After any emergency folks will still be taking cash, for a short window, then you gotta break out your barter.
No fucking words to express the depths of this morass we are in as a country and as individuals.
We have some hard times a'coming. The current maladministration has seen to that. We have yet to feel the real shocks in our daily lives.
Oh, they'll be "temporary" but what does that mean when applied to the citizenry at large, to our lives and the length/quality of life we're able to live here in the US? Temporary could be like the years between Obama and twump. How much our daily lives have changed in less than 10 years?
And then there's this question. What if we don't want to live in a subscription-based world?
Best notion, ever. Show up, say some see somethimg, tRump Stranger Danger, Hair on Fire Administration. I can't hold it any longer, pull over the car, dad. I think I just lit one up..
Absolutely everything about our lives has become the property of the bad guys. The guys who sold their principles and their souls for power and money. There is something you can do to reduce the number of data brokers that sell your privacy: Download one of the apps that will remove your information from numerous predators. OPTERY is the most thorough as of this writing. In the past two months they have found and completely eliminated all my info from 249 data brokers. There is no way to opt out of the massive surveillance network, but you can slow them down.
Huh thanks. I will try them. I hated incogni but used them 2x over a year plus [quit 2x] and would never use them again. I use duck also. If someone is in CA there is now a law and free one that includes vin. I will find a link and circle back.
Yes, you can... It's tougher than you think, but there are huge gaps, in just my employment record. And where I live is just a platte ID number, not a physical address. You actually have to submit, a month in advance, just to look at the platte maps and connecting my mame is gonna mean other things... just, so they can dig them out of hard storage. But, nasa could spy on me if there were ever a reason they just wouln't know who they were looking at. And I am by far not the only one.
Yes, I subscribed to Optery for several (3?) months about a year ago. I then figured I had given them enough time and it was going so slowly that I just cancelled it. It was probably 'taking so long' to keep me subscribed. Imagine my surprise a few days ago when I finally got around to Googling my name and all the variations of it that I only found my data on one weird site. I quickly and easily submitted a request to have that info removed. So you don't need an annual subscription. I'm pretty sure Optery works a lot faster than they say they do.
One thing I found a few days ago was that there was a website that had the username I have frequently used over the years tied directly to my real name. It also showed every account I have used it for. I immediately sent a request to have that data removed as well. So either use a unique username for every social media site/app or else check frequently to make sure some shady site isn't giving away your identity. That one was kind of scary.
What do you think all those gigantic data centers are for? They're not storing the world's literature or historical documents for us to digitally access. They're for storing every last bit of information about each of us that can be scraped from our online activities. Now with the proliferation of surveillance cameras, traffic cameras and security cameras even our minute to minute locations are being collected and stored. Every purchase we make, every Internet search, every website we access, every social media post we make or read, every trip to the store, there is nothing we do that isn't recorded and available for analysis or exploitation by either the government or some commercial or nefarious actor.
I don't know how factual this is, but the dreaded Chinese "social credit score" was supposedly inspired by/modeled from the US credit score
While it may not be officially run by the US government, I'm not sure outsourcing to corporations makes it any better. I'm sure it makes no difference to the person who can't find a place to rent because they once foolishly got sick
Traces recently back to Robber Barons and the Wehrmacht Germany, I think all the way to how 15th century fish catches were sold, odd as that may seem. Somewhere between a credit score and a possible monetary return.
"Lord Biglypants, promises 20 Quid per squid, and I wager he has a note from the bank, instructing, thusly! Who shall outbid him?"
It's hard work to limit what of your info is out there while still surviving in the US. Even if you aren't looking at credit cards, bank accounts, or financing, you need to use them to (a) try to catch it your identity is stolen and (b) to verify information with some entities like the IRS. They track far more than most people understand. They are also more prone to errors than most understand, which is tricky when you need to use your credit score or their info on you for something! Currently, one has my incorrect address but won't change it, so now I have to remember the incorrect address in case it ends up on a 'which of these addresses have you lived at' question. Correcting info with them requires more data than they require for reported information, too. Thanks for this article detailing this history and linking the current companies, I think I know more on this area than most people (from school/work) and still learned a good amount. I'm sure it took a while to put together in such a comprehensible way!
The calculations for credit and their "updates" are timed to hurt individuals. Actual interest rates are not used in the number one "ding" which is credit card debt. It is presumed by maximum possible rates on that card. The rates are updated as soon as possible with negatively potential data and as late as possible when the score could be improved. It is a way to ensure the ability to charge more wherever possible.
Most people also don't understand how different things impact the score since it's big change. Rewarding people for having larger credit card limits and using but paying a portion of that instead are big ones that I see people messed up by.
The worst is the only way I know how to "freeze credit" to protect from identity theft and credit theft is to use these three bureaus. Two of the three charge a membership fee to freeze and unfreeze our credit.
I gots 4 more cords of wood, needs choppin', you offerin'? I got sandwiches and cold drinks, but you can't chop much past 10:00 a.m. in the century mark heat.
You really nailed it; thanks.
We should at least be receiving compensation for our own personal data, not these leaching credit companies.
I want to live in a cave now. Thanks for the great reporting!
Unfortunately it’s already been in process for a while, it was slow, had some regulatory hurdles, but this fraudulent regime wants to speed things along, no regulation, no accountability, and it’s all very corrupted. Don’t trust them.
There's not a lot you can do about any of this. Once you have a digital footprint, you can't go back. But you can opt out using the links on the Experian, Equifax and Transunion pages. It's usually a link at the bottom of the home page either to the "Privacy Center" or it will say Do Not Sell My Data. You might as well opt out of as much as you can.
You should also search your name and variations of it on Google. Each of the "white pages" type of databases displaying your personal information has options to have your profile removed but it's a real pain in the ass to do that for multiple sites and there are usually at least a few dozen of them. I've had great success with a service that scans all of the sites and opts out for you for each one. I had a decently priced subscription for a couple of months and then thought, well, if they haven't gotten to all of them so be it. But when I just searched a few days ago, I only found one site that I easily submitted a removal request to. So the service i used was way more effective than I would have guessed.
What was more alarming is that I've had the same unique username for many, many years. I found a website that had a "profile" linking that username directly to my real name and showed every associated account. You know how fast I moved to request removal of those? Lightning speed.
Finally, DiB shared this link in a previous post about the credit reporting agencies. I just finished going through the top 10 one by one and opting out. Be aware that you must submit multiple requests. Don't sell my data, delete my data, show me my data and do not sell my private, sensitive data. You have to submit a unique request for each option on most of these data broker sites.
https://privacyinsightsolutions.com/data-broker-opt-out-list
I'm not going to lie. If you aren't internet savvy like I am, it's not easy to scrub even this small amount of data. It takes time and serious effort to navigate all of these options. It's like when they want you to accept cookies on a website and then you have to click learn more to reject them and sometimes toggle off multiple options. Yes, it's easier to click the accept button. Don't do it. Always look for a link if there's no reject all or only use necessary button. It's worth it to take an extra minute or two. I also use a VPN.
I'm also not going to lie that any of these steps even come close to scrubbing your data fully or erasing your digital footprint or protecting you that much. You still have to try because otherwise, you're basically giving them full consent to do all of this to you and more. At least we can try to make them do better. I hope these tips help someone who needs them.
Do you really believe that you can scrub all of your data out of existence? “Opt out” doesn’t mean that your data get erased.
No, I don't really believe that and ynd you clearly didn't read the last paragraph where I explicitly stated that it doesn't do that or even help that much. Thanks for playing.
Thanks for this. I have a credit card just for emergencies, though I haven't needed it for ages. Should I just cancel the card? Are they more dangerous than they're worth?
Drop it like it's hot. put $500 mixed bills inside a pizza roll and stuff it in the back of your freezer, or tape it behind the toilett. You will be better off. After any emergency folks will still be taking cash, for a short window, then you gotta break out your barter.
Okay. Thanks.
Thank you!
No fucking words to express the depths of this morass we are in as a country and as individuals.
We have some hard times a'coming. The current maladministration has seen to that. We have yet to feel the real shocks in our daily lives.
Oh, they'll be "temporary" but what does that mean when applied to the citizenry at large, to our lives and the length/quality of life we're able to live here in the US? Temporary could be like the years between Obama and twump. How much our daily lives have changed in less than 10 years?
And then there's this question. What if we don't want to live in a subscription-based world?
So Is There Anything We Can Possibly Do To Protect Ourselves From Corporate Greed From These Companies & Their Subsidiaries ?
Yes. General strike.
Best notion, ever. Show up, say some see somethimg, tRump Stranger Danger, Hair on Fire Administration. I can't hold it any longer, pull over the car, dad. I think I just lit one up..
Absolutely 💯 Agree ! Thanks ☺️
Yep. Total global monopoly.
Absolutely everything about our lives has become the property of the bad guys. The guys who sold their principles and their souls for power and money. There is something you can do to reduce the number of data brokers that sell your privacy: Download one of the apps that will remove your information from numerous predators. OPTERY is the most thorough as of this writing. In the past two months they have found and completely eliminated all my info from 249 data brokers. There is no way to opt out of the massive surveillance network, but you can slow them down.
Huh thanks. I will try them. I hated incogni but used them 2x over a year plus [quit 2x] and would never use them again. I use duck also. If someone is in CA there is now a law and free one that includes vin. I will find a link and circle back.
John the Revelator warned us about this, approximately 2,000 years ago. “The mark of the beast”.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013:16-17&version=KJV
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_the_beast
Yes, you can... It's tougher than you think, but there are huge gaps, in just my employment record. And where I live is just a platte ID number, not a physical address. You actually have to submit, a month in advance, just to look at the platte maps and connecting my mame is gonna mean other things... just, so they can dig them out of hard storage. But, nasa could spy on me if there were ever a reason they just wouln't know who they were looking at. And I am by far not the only one.
Yes, I subscribed to Optery for several (3?) months about a year ago. I then figured I had given them enough time and it was going so slowly that I just cancelled it. It was probably 'taking so long' to keep me subscribed. Imagine my surprise a few days ago when I finally got around to Googling my name and all the variations of it that I only found my data on one weird site. I quickly and easily submitted a request to have that info removed. So you don't need an annual subscription. I'm pretty sure Optery works a lot faster than they say they do.
One thing I found a few days ago was that there was a website that had the username I have frequently used over the years tied directly to my real name. It also showed every account I have used it for. I immediately sent a request to have that data removed as well. So either use a unique username for every social media site/app or else check frequently to make sure some shady site isn't giving away your identity. That one was kind of scary.
How ridiculous this has all become. The sense of entitlement is on steroids.
What do you think all those gigantic data centers are for? They're not storing the world's literature or historical documents for us to digitally access. They're for storing every last bit of information about each of us that can be scraped from our online activities. Now with the proliferation of surveillance cameras, traffic cameras and security cameras even our minute to minute locations are being collected and stored. Every purchase we make, every Internet search, every website we access, every social media post we make or read, every trip to the store, there is nothing we do that isn't recorded and available for analysis or exploitation by either the government or some commercial or nefarious actor.
OOF. So they know how much beer I buy? Yikes.
Social credit score. Sounds communist😆
It's more of a kleptocracy thing.
I don't know how factual this is, but the dreaded Chinese "social credit score" was supposedly inspired by/modeled from the US credit score
While it may not be officially run by the US government, I'm not sure outsourcing to corporations makes it any better. I'm sure it makes no difference to the person who can't find a place to rent because they once foolishly got sick
That said, I don't disagree with you
Traces recently back to Robber Barons and the Wehrmacht Germany, I think all the way to how 15th century fish catches were sold, odd as that may seem. Somewhere between a credit score and a possible monetary return.
"Lord Biglypants, promises 20 Quid per squid, and I wager he has a note from the bank, instructing, thusly! Who shall outbid him?"
It's hard work to limit what of your info is out there while still surviving in the US. Even if you aren't looking at credit cards, bank accounts, or financing, you need to use them to (a) try to catch it your identity is stolen and (b) to verify information with some entities like the IRS. They track far more than most people understand. They are also more prone to errors than most understand, which is tricky when you need to use your credit score or their info on you for something! Currently, one has my incorrect address but won't change it, so now I have to remember the incorrect address in case it ends up on a 'which of these addresses have you lived at' question. Correcting info with them requires more data than they require for reported information, too. Thanks for this article detailing this history and linking the current companies, I think I know more on this area than most people (from school/work) and still learned a good amount. I'm sure it took a while to put together in such a comprehensible way!
The calculations for credit and their "updates" are timed to hurt individuals. Actual interest rates are not used in the number one "ding" which is credit card debt. It is presumed by maximum possible rates on that card. The rates are updated as soon as possible with negatively potential data and as late as possible when the score could be improved. It is a way to ensure the ability to charge more wherever possible.
Most people also don't understand how different things impact the score since it's big change. Rewarding people for having larger credit card limits and using but paying a portion of that instead are big ones that I see people messed up by.
*its - didn't catch the autocorrect and that was going to bug me
You can edit that... but it's is correct : "it is"