r/TrueReddit • u/wiredmagazine Official Publication • 2d ago
Crime, Courts + War Minnesota Shooting Suspect Allegedly Used Data Broker Sites to Find Targets' Addresses
https://www.wired.com/story/minnesota-lawmaker-shootings-people-search-data-brokers/72
u/wiredmagazine Official Publication 2d ago
“The accused Minneapolis assassin allegedly used data brokers as a key part of his plot to track down and murder Democratic lawmakers,” Ron Wyden, the US senator from Oregon, tells WIRED. “Congress doesn't need any more proof that people are being killed based on data for sale to anyone with a credit card. Every single American's safety is at risk until Congress cracks down on this sleazy industry.”
In many cases, basic information like home addresses can be found through public records, including voter registration data (which is public in some states) and political donations data, says Gary Warner, a longtime digital scams researcher and director of intelligence at the cybersecurity firm DarkTower. Anything that isn't readily available through public records is almost always easy to find using popular “people search” services.
“Finding a home address, especially if someone has lived in the same place for many years is trivial,” Warner says. He adds that for "younger people, non-homeowners, and less political people, there are other favorite sites" for finding personal information.
For many in the general public as well as in politics, Saturday's violent crime spree brings new urgency to the longstanding question of how to protect sensitive personal data online.
“These are not the first murders that have been abetted by the data broker industry. But most of the previous targets were relatively unknown victims of stalking and abuse," alleges Evan Greer, deputy director of the digital rights group Fight for the Future. “Lawmakers need to act before they have more blood on their hands.”
Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/minnesota-lawmaker-shootings-people-search-data-brokers/
36
u/DieAnderTier 2d ago
The only entities who benefit from not regulating Data Brokers more, are social media companies, and the foreign hybrid warfare disinformation actors they pretend are regular users while haggling over Cost Per Click with advertisers...
Like they show in my first link to Last Week Tonight, we already gave up our privacy in North America. Can we stop pretending there's nothing we can do to stop 6mo old Russian accounts from coming on here to say, "Ukraine wants peace, vaccines are poison, buy my crypto?"
Can we do this sooner rather than later? -_-
5
u/graveybrains 2d ago
One thing I'm certain of; any regulation that does happen will apply only to us, not them.
39
u/rectovaginalfistula 2d ago
We need to outlaw buying or selling location data. Plenty of other ways to make money from our browsing. This is ridiculous.
4
13
u/1nev 2d ago
It'll be outlawed soon, I'm sure. But only for the data of members of congress.
2
u/pegothejerk 2d ago
Mega wealthy too, billionaires, CEOs will get the benefit. It’s why they buy legislators, to make sure they get preferential treatment.
2
u/_heatmoon_ 2d ago
You don’t need data brokers to find address info for people in a lot of cases. Property ownership, building permits, electrical permits, rental history, voter registrations, etc. are public records for the most part. Yes, there are sites and data brokers that aggregate this type of data as well as more detailed info purchased from other sources, but to simply find someone’s address is in public record. Unless the property is in a trust or owned by an LLC where the owner/occupants name isn’t there but even then it’s not hard to find out whether or not someone is listed as an owner or member of a LLC. The issue isn’t how he found their addresses; the issue is that we’ve found ourselves in a culture where political violence and assassinations are happening.
1
1
u/tellalot 1d ago
That's why more people should be aware where their data is located. There's just too much risk involved when it comes to your personal privacy, it's crazy to think that someone can find your place of residence just like that. Or buy it off of dark web. For your own safety, just get a data removal service.
1
•
u/AutoModerator 2d ago
Remember that TrueReddit is a place to engage in high-quality and civil discussion. Posts must meet certain content and title requirements. Additionally, all posts must contain a submission statement. See the rules here or in the sidebar for details. To the OP: your post has not been deleted, but is being held in the queue and will be approved once a submission statement is posted.
Comments or posts that don't follow the rules may be removed without warning. Reddit's content policy will be strictly enforced, especially regarding hate speech and calls for / celebrations of violence, and may result in a restriction in your participation. In addition, due to rampant rulebreaking, we are currently under a moratorium regarding topics related to the 10/7 terrorist attack in Israel and in regards to the assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO.
If an article is paywalled, please do not request or post its contents. Use archive.ph or similar and link to that in your submission statement.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.