So, this is probably naive of me, but so far I haven’t really been able to find the answer on the web.
Recently I subscribed to a personal info removal company called Incogni, only to find out that they sent a staggering 123 removal requests on my behalf. I never imagined there were that many companies in that business. So far in 20 days, 70 requests have been fulfilled, but 53 are still pending.
Which made me wonder… given my personal data seems to be sold, re-sold and re-re-sold without my express consent, or ability to opt out… if I knew I’ve informed my legit service providers, plus those I have legit obligations to (employer, state, etc.)… how easy would it be to obfuscate it on a regular basis, by simply providing a new, creative address, to entities I don’t get mail communication, or deliveries, from?
So, has anyone tried to trace the map by which a new address, cell phone number, etc. makes its way through the 123 or so data brokers? What are the ‘input nodes’ to that graph?
100% agree when you say “there aren’t any PIs at work here”, since we’re talking about data aggregation from multiple sources. My thought is: given data aggregation of PII is largely legal, then equally, publishing of creative PII is also legal.
So, regularly feeding creative PII for obfuscation, for protection from unknown 3rd-parties, requires knowing the sources communicating your data. At least, the main sources.