Who has my data? Part I
Hello and welcome back to our newsletter. Today we are going to look at another personal story of one of our team members, and see how his personal information was bought by international companies without his knowledge. We’ll let him continue his story below.
“Hi everyone. I want to share my story with you to raise awareness on how companies sell user personal data without clear consent.
Everything began a few weeks ago when all of the sudden I received an email from an US organisation, welcoming and thanking me for subscribing to their newsletter. I was really surprised and I got angry for receiving this email, as I never even heard of this company, let alone subscribe to them.
The next day I brought this subject into discussion with my colleagues, and obviously, everyone felt the same as I did, angry and betrayed.
Since I started working for FindMyData, I actually became more privacy focused, and I knew that I can actually have a say in this matter. So I decided to let FindMyData handle this situation for me, and in all honesty, I wasn’t disappointed.
FindMyData got in touch with this company on my behalf and asked to see what other personal information they hold about me. Besides this, they also asked to see how they obtained my data and from where.
The company was happy to comply with FindMyData’s request, and their answer surprised all of us. The firm bought my email address from 2 other US companies, but they had no idea that I actually lived outside US. This organisation operates only within United States, and it surprised them as well that I was from UK. Based on this, FindMyData was able to restrict this company and stop them from ever contacting me for marketing purposes. You might be surprised about this, but we actually discussed this matter, and we decided that it was the best option compared to just deleting my info from them. As the firm only had my email address and no other info, it was best to leave it there, but restrict them from sharing or selling it to others, or even contact me in the future.
The main surprise I had from this request, was that I didn’t even heard of those other 2 companies that sold my email address to this business.
I will continue to let FindMyData handle this situation on my behalf, and see what those other 2 companies have to say. Tracking my personal data is still in early stages, but since I began, I will continue to go this rabbit hole. I am sure I will be surprised about what I’ll find, and most likely it’s going to take a while, but the effort is well worth it.
The reason why I wanted to share my story with everyone, is to show that even though you might think you know who has your data, or even what data companies may have about you, I am 100% sure you will be surprised about what you’ll find. I really recommend you start tracking your personal information as soon as possible, and stop companies doing what they want with it. Don’t forget that it’s YOUR DATA, and you have a say in this!”
We hope you enjoyed our story and learned something new today. As you saw, we just started tracking our team member’s data, but we’ll keep you updated on this subject as we find more.
If you want to find what data do companies have about you, track your personal information online or even update your info from companies, you can simply Sign Up here for 30 Days Free Trial, and we’ll do the work for you.