Taylor Lorenz’s Power User The Real Reason Your Insurance Just Went Up
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Aug 29, 2025 Discover the shocking truth about how data brokers harvest and exploit your personal information. From tracking your location to analyzing your habits, the podcast reveals the sneaky methods companies use to build comprehensive profiles. It explores the risks of everyday technology and highlights how these practices can even lead to inflated insurance costs. Listeners will learn practical steps to protect their privacy and the importance of advocating for better data protection laws.
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Data Brokers Stitch Your Life Together
- Data brokers collect vast fragments of daily life from apps and devices and stitch them into detailed profiles.
- Those profiles are sold to advertisers, insurers, campaigns, hedge funds, and government agencies.
Phones Are Core Surveillance Devices
- Smartphones are central to surveillance because continuous app-collected location data is extremely valuable.
- Third-party SDKs can stream precise location to ad networks and data brokers without clear user awareness.
FTC Found Location Data Sold For Clinic Visits
- Taylor cites the FTC's January 2024 finding that Outlogic sold location data tracking visits to reproductive health clinics and shelters.
- The FTC filed an order, but the problem persists across many companies.