Just Say No (and Do It Soon)

Companies are finding new ways to monetize our existing personal data. And too often, they do this without giving us proper notice or getting informed consent. Here are three current examples that you will want to act on soon.

PayPal to Share Shopping Details

If you use (or have ever used) PayPal, you have until next month to disable a new setting that would allow them to share your detailed shopping data with vendors to ‘build a more personal experience’ for you. If you click on the ‘about’ link for this new feature, it says:

We’re on a mission to help you find the most relevant products and styles. We’ll share recommendations with participating stores based on your shopping history and preferences. Your info helps participating stores show you products, offers, and rewards you might like.

But PayPal added this new option quietly and turned it on by default. While PayPal did eventually send out a vague email notice about this change in policy, it’s just wrong to opt all their users into this personal data sharing by default. And they only gave users about a month to turn it off.

To turn opt out of this (and you absolutely should), log into your PayPal account and then go to Settings > Data & Privacy > Manage shared info > Personalized shopping. Or, click here while logged in. 

LinkedIn Opts You In for AI Data Sharing

As if mining our personal data for advertising and marketing wasn’t bad enough, companies everywhere are now scrambling to hoover up as much of our data as possible to train their AI models. Meta was recently caught using all your Facebook and Instagram posts to train their AI models, all the way back to 2007. Everyone is doing it or planning to: Reddit, Slack, Amazon’s Alexa, Twitter/X and Tesla, Microsoft, and even the chat bots themselves. And they’re being sneaky about doing it and making it hard to opt out.

Not to be left out, LinkedIn has recently joined the club – opting all of its users into training their AI models based on your posts and data. It even appears that they started using your data before telling you about it. That’s just unethical and wrong… but unfortunately, at least in the US, it’s not illegal. Yet. (I’m somehow both jaded and optimistic.)

You can turn this off for future data, but it’s unclear if this will have any effect on data they may have already used to train their AI. Go to Settings > Data Privacy > How LinkedIn Uses Your Data > Data for Generative AI Improvement – turn this OFF. Or click this link to jump right to this area of settings.

23andMe May Sell Your DNA Data

Oh, but it gets worse. Not only is your personal data being mined to target ads and to train AI models, but your DNA – your actual genetic makeup – may be sold off for who-knows-what purpose. I’ve warned about using DNA ancestry services for years. But now those warnings are becoming rather urgent, at least for anyone who has used 23andMe. In the wake of their massive data breach, there’s been a mass exodus of execs, the company is close to being delisted and may be on the verge of bankruptcy.

So what happens to all that juicy DNA data if the company goes bankrupt? It’s not at all clear. But you have to assume that it’s at least possible that your DNA data will be sold to anyone willing to pay. And so there have been many, many stories in the news warning people to request that their 23andMe data be deleted. Note that I said request – because it’s unclear if you can even do that at this point.

Nevertheless, I would still recommend that if you or someone you know has sent their DNA to 23andMe (or really any DNA service, like Ancestry or MyHeritage) that you at least attempt to delete your data. If nothing else, this may be important if there are lawsuits later. This Consumer Reports article has info on how to remove your data from several such sites.

Some of these sites also may use your DNA for “research studies”. If this were done properly, it could be helpful for humanity. But sadly, without strong privacy laws, I just couldn’t trust they would be properly incentivized to guard your data properly. Your DNA is literally you – I’m not sure how you could share it “anonymously”. Check your account settings for any way to opt out of research.

More Ways to Stay Informed

This newsletter/blog is just one way that I disseminate information like this – and importantly, these articles only cover a portion of the important info. If you want to be sure to get the full spectrum of timely news, there are three other options you might want to consider, each with their own pros and cons.

1. My book. While books are usually static things, I try to update Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons every couple years. I also maintain a book update page with errata and important updates. The book has over 200 tips with step-by-step instructions and screenshots, but also helps you to understand how things work and why the tips are so important.
2. My podcast. I have a weekly podcast that ‘airs’ every Monday. The show lasts about an hour and alternates between news shows and interview shows. The news shows come out right after my blog/newsletter posts and the “tip of the week” almost always covers the same topic. But there are often other ‘tips’ in the podcasts related to recent news that don’t make it into my newsletter – like every tip in this article. You can check out the podcast coverage of these topics here: PayPal, LinkedIn, 23andMe.
3. Social Media. I hate social media. But I also have to be where my audience is. I don’t post a lot, but when I do, it’s often something timely. I posted there about the PayPal and LinkedIn stories. I also often post about important security updates for your devices and other ‘urgent’ matters. Click here to see where you can follow me. The best options are Twitter/X, LinkedIn and Mastodon. (If you’ve never tried Mastodon, you should.)

Fight Back

This rampant collection and monetization of our personal data is just going to keep happening until we have strong privacy laws. And that means electing representatives into office who will stand up for the interests of their constituents over the interests of Big Tech. You can get involved personally by contacting your representatives and asking questions at town halls. You should also support products and services that protect your privacy by using their products and paying for them where you can. But if nothing else, you can also support organizations who are fighting for your rights every day. See my list here.