This data mining 101 article by Tom Owad shows just how much information is available and easily accessible online. He takes a few lines of custom code, a bunch of free scripts, a Mac and his home DSL line to do the mining and then closes with an unsettling thought:

… imagine if one had access to Amazon’s entire database - which still contains every sale dating back to 1999 by the way. Under Section 251 of the Patriot Act, the FBI can require Amazon to turn over its records, without probable cause, for an “authorized investigation . . . to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities.” Amazon is forbidden to disclose that they have turned over any records, so that you would never know that the government is keeping records of your book purchases. And obviously it is quite simple to crossreference this info with data available in other databases.

Privacy — or the lack thereof — is one of the reasons I try my best to not follow patterns online. I’ve bought some books at Amazon, but I tend to spread purchases around. I’m a firm believer in avoiding predictability and patterns with buying habits, schedules and road travels. Structure is unavoidable with some things, but adding some unpredictable activity is wise. Eventually everything becomes a pattern, I suppose with a large enough data set — or wide enough popularlity — there is a point at which it becomes futile to try and protect your privacy but along the way if you try and do the following the leaks will at least be minimized:

1. spread online purchases around and be careful about what’s shared publically, specifically purchase history
2. if you blog it or share it with someone else who blogs it, then it’s no longer personal, always keep that in mind. Since I blog a lot of my new purchases here (they often become detailed reviews), I’m already making a lot of my purchase data well known. At least I know what I’m doing with this information and how it’s archived instead of wondering what Company ABC is doing with it.
3. watch out for public RSS feeds of your own data. Share only what you want to share when you fully realize the ramifications of sharing. Assume the FBI, your best client, parents and grandparents will be able to find and read anything you share and/or publish on the web.
4. do include privacy message in your emails if you don’t want this information shared. Yes, it should be obvious that email information is inherently private and personal, but some folks need it in their face next to your names to drive this home
5. robots.txt and .htaccess can be useful for helping to prevent third party access to data but they are not fullproof solutions.
6. always edit your profile — if you have one — after you register online. Sometimes information you fill out during registration is made public by default. Don’t be caught in this privacy trap.
7. do not use mother’s maiden name or other personally identifiable information for password retrieval. Choose vague options like favorite food or create your own unique and vague fact that only you and people very close to you would ever know.
8. don’t auto-save credit card information unless there’s no other way. It’s not that big of a hassle to retype a credit card number but it’s a big hassle if the company’s card database is breached.
9. always, always, always ensure sensitive information is being transferred over an https:// secure connection. Look for the lock in the browser. If you don’t see it, don’t shop there.
10. don’t link to your email address unencrypted in profiles, web pages, blog entries or otherwise.
11. use your nick/handle, not your legal name whenever possible online
12. read, yes, really read the privacy and terms of service (TOS) policy of sites you sign up. I’m guilty of not doing this sometimes and those are usually the sites that end up whoring out my information

Got other online privacy tips/tricks to share?

Did this post make you go hmm?

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