Meta in trouble, PayPal selling user data...

[GTP]

Hmmm, so glad I don't have Instascam, Fakebook or PayPal. Meta stored hundreds of millions of passwords "in the clear." (Plain Text)

He also explains how to stop PayPal's data collection in settings.

Interesting discussion by Steve Gibson on Security Now episode #995

 

[britechguy]

For those who want to turn off PayPal's data collection for Personalized Shopping, this is what you're looking for:


It's toggled on by default, so toggle it off.

 

[ThatPlace928]

For those who want to turn off PayPal's data collection for Personalized Shopping, this is what you're looking for:
View attachment 16881

It's toggled on by default, so toggle it off.

Must be different for business accounts. Mine doesn't show personalized shopping and there's no "manage shared info" heading. My selections stop at blocked contacts.

 

[britechguy]

Must be different for business accounts.

It probably is. I only have 2 personal accounts, plus my partner's personal account, all of which do have that item.

 

[ThatPlace928]

This is what mine shows. Mine is a business account. Probably only for people with personal accounts, will they begin data sharing.

 

[GTP]

If you are in California, Vermont and some other places in the US apparently it's off by default.
My lady checked her PayPal account and couldn't see the setting either.
But it's not going to be implemented till Nov 27th so I would check after that.

 

[ThatPlace928]

If you are in California, Vermont and some other places in the US apparently it's off by default.
My lady checked her PayPal account and couldn't see the setting either.
But it's not going to be implemented till Nov 27th so I would check after that.

I'm in Arizona so I am, or will be, potentially subjected to this new POS change. Honestly, how DARE anyone share anyone's purchase info with ANY of their merchants! Just because they announce a change doesn't make it legal, moral, or ethical.

 

[GTP]

I couldn't agree more.
But unfortunately there will be a very large user base that will either not know, not understand or simply not care and this is what PayPal will be hoping for.
Thank God for guys like Steve Gibson that have their fingers on the pulse to the shenanigans that corporations get up to.
If you (haven't done so already) listen to the podcast and hear exactly what they are planning you'll be even more incensed.

 

[ThatPlace928]

I couldn't agree more.
But unfortunately there will be a very large user base that will either not know, not understand or simply not care and this is what PayPal will be hoping for.
Thank God for guys like Steve Gibson that have their fingers on the pulse to the shenanigans that corporations get up to.
If you (haven't done so already) listen to the podcast and hear exactly what they are planning you'll be even more incensed.

I started watching but that guy is soooooo droll, I 'x' out.

 

[britechguy]

Just because they announce a change doesn't make it legal, moral, or ethical.

Indeed. We are long past the time where opt-in should be a legal requirement, rather than the longstanding default of opt-out.

If I am expected to make a choice, I want the default if I don't take action to be, "Leave things exactly as they are." That's what opt-in does.

 

[frase]

Must be different for business accounts. Mine doesn't show personalized shopping and there's no "manage shared info" heading. My selections stop at blocked contacts.

Same though do have "Manage your Data" section.

 

[ThatPlace928]

Same though do have "Manage your Data" section.

Yeah, that's on mine, too, but it's nothing to do with privacy options, like Brian's screenshot. I checked it out earlier.

 

[fincoder]

My personal PayPal account (Australia) doesn't have the option either:

 

[ThatPlace928]

My personal PayPal account (Australia) doesn't have the option either:
View attachment 16884

That looks like a business account. See where it says "sellers tools"? That option isn't on a personal account. Or at least it's not on my personal account. I have both a personal and business account.

 

[GTP]

Hmmm my lady has a personal account but it also doesn't have "Sellers Tools" as an option.

 

[britechguy]

I can assure you that my accounts are both personal accounts, and both contain Sellers Tools as shown in my earlier post above. Since PayPal originally grew out of eBay (whether it started there or not, eBay is what ended up making it a major player) I always presumed that's where those had their roots.

I'd also imagine that what shows up in PayPal is directly influenced by what's legal in the venue where it's being accessed.

 

[frase]

Yeah, that's on mine, too, but it's nothing to do with privacy options, like Brian's screenshot. I checked it out earlier.

Brian must have Paypal rockin like it's 1999!

 

[Sky-Knight]

The tyranny of defaults is real, and it can only be controlled via regulation.

 

[britechguy]

Brian must have Paypal rockin like it's 1999!

Would that I had that kind of God-like control. Like all end users, I get what PayPal dishes out!

And I'm in complete agreement with @Sky-Knight about the tyranny of defaults, and that regulation is the one and only way that the public can be protected from things such as what PayPal intends to do. And PayPal is far from the only entity that's doing massive amounts of data collection and mining and selling both raw data and analysis to third parties without anything that can be considered real consent from their users. This sick game has been being played for a very long time now. There's a reason the old saying, "There oughta be a law!," came to be. If it's not illegal, it's legal, whether it's ethical, moral, advisable, or anything else.

People like to talk about the risks of federal oversight and regulations. But without those basic guardrails in place, large companies get to do whatever they want . . .
~Erin Brockovich, New York Times, Op-Ed, What’s At Stake In November, July 30, 2024