Introduction

Consumers have options to reduce some types of information collected, processed and sold about themselves.

Purposes

This article covers some of the basic topics related to personal data removal requests & digital privacy and can serve as an outline for a Member Services conversation you can have with a Navigator 24/7.

Table of Contents

Your Data

Public Data

Some information is considered a "public record" because it may be of benefit to other citizens to see things like property records and court proceedings. Many types of public records are available for free or at a small cost.

Data for Purchase

There are thousands of companies that track online and offline activity, buy and sell raw and processed data, and derive historical and real time insights on people. Nearly all types of information is available for purchase. Data privacy efforts are often aimed at reducing the amount of data that is tracked, analyzed and sold in this marketplace.

Regulated Personal Data

Some types of data, like healthcare data, may be subject to regulation. It may not be considered truly "private" but there are requirements for the storage and disclosure of information. While it may not be practical to ask healthcare providers to purge personal information, it may be possible for you to more closely monitor what information you authorize your healthcare providers to share.

Private Data

You may possess data on personal phones, laptops and other devices that have documents, photos, messages and other files that you don't want shared with anyone without your permission. It may be helpful to follow some good security practices to reduce the likelihood that your private data becomes public.

Secret Data

Your phones and computers also store passwords, which are not only personal, but critical to your online security.

Meta Data

"Meta data" is a broad term that can refer to indirect or secondary data that can be collected about a person or situation. For example, the time and duration of a phone call might be considered "metadata" with respect to the call, for which the phone recording would be the direct source.

What do I stand to lose?

Price Manipulation

Your online activities, current location and many other data points influence real time pricing of some of the goods and services you consider. Costs to you may go up or down based on what the company or intermediary knows about you near the time of purchase.

Experimentation

People are often unknowingly subject to online behavioral experimentation for the purposes of authentication, profit optimization, interface improvement, commercial intelligence gathering and human research.

Behavioral Manipulation

Social media and communication platforms are continuously measuring, reinforcing and optimizing behavioral mechanics to reliably drive engagement and revenue.

Other Applications

The data available about you may be used in ways that you have not anticipated.

Member Services

Noble Navigators provides guidance, direct action and ongoing support services for more than a dozen important life situations, including providing care for others. If you or someone you know needs assistance, please contact Noble Navigators 24/7 for live assistance

Behind the Scenes Information

There is a substantial amount of information that is collected directly and indirectly about nearly everyone and everything that is measurable. Attitudes towards personal information collection vary widely. Consider your personal preferences and what you would do to prevent misuse of your personal information.

Key Terms

Psychometric Testing

Measuring and analyzing personality traits, cognitive functions and other tendencies.

Cookies

Many companies track and analyze online customer data to better sell them products and services and some do it to sell or aggregate the data itself as a source of profit. Cookies are the most common indication that online activity is being tracked.

Location Data

Our location is continuously tracked by our phones and many of the devices communicating with our phones, including cellular and WiFi networks as well as public and private network devices constantly measuring and signaling.

Algorithm

An algorithm is a mathematical representation of the interaction between systems, goals and strategies.