Personal data on the Internet

[Uncle Mort]

How does our personal data and interests get shared on the web?

Just had an email from an Italian tool company. Why me? 

All answers (clean) accepted.

[apc2010]

How does our personal data and interests get shared on the web?

Just had an email from an Italian tool company. Why me? 

All answers (clean) accepted.

Sold I imagine ..years ago ..in the exchange n mart ..you could buy lists of names and addresses for direct mailing ..even down to what they had enquired about/interests etc....

The newer the list, the more expensive ..was perfectly legal ..

[Steve]

Yep, but it's not legal.  At least not in the UK
 
You get rogue employees even rogue companies that just break the GPDR rules to make a quick buck and of course you get hackers who gain access to company databases.
 
Also be careful about submitting your details to any apparently free (or even paid entry) competitions as the T's and C's are often interpretable as allowing the submitted details to be used as the recipients see fit.
 

[Uncle Mort]

Another thing: Last week I had a call asking to speak to my ex using her maiden name. Odd because she hasn't lived here for over 20 years, also she's never lived here under her maiden name.

 

[Grumpmeister]

Always check the wording on the tick if you do not wish us to share your information/if you do not wish to recieve section whenever you sign an agreement. A lot of companies have sneakily changed the wording to give implicit consent instead of opting out. Once they have that then they can sell to pretty much whoever they want.

[Grumpmeister]

Another thing: Last week I had a call asking to speak to my ex using her maiden name. Odd because she hasn't lived here for over 20 years, also she's never lived here under her maiden name.

 

That part is easy enough to explain. When I ran diallers for a large mortgage company we had somewhere between 16 and 20 million records on the database but only a few hundred thousand had enough up to date information to be of any use. The rest would be put into mining call lists where the newer agents would try to get or confirm as much data as possible (most would just have a name, address and contact number) and for the lucky few actually get sales.