I am taking a business class right now, and the main theme of the class is Information Systems. For the most part, these information systems involve new technology whether it be software, information warehouses, etc. One of the things that is going on is that internet providers (Comcast, Dish Network, Frontier, etc.) monitor what we do over the internet and store our internet behavior in a data base. They then build a profile for each and ever customer (me and you) based off of our searches, sites we visit, things we write on blogs, etc. and sell these profiles to companies.

My class is an online class, and part of our grade involves writing on a discussion forum in which every week there is a new topic. This week's topic was about what I mentioned above, and we were asked if we agreed with what is going on. I stated that I did not agree, but another guy agreed with these tactics. I then responded to his post with the following:

"To what extent do you agree with companies collecting information on customers and employees? Would you agree with data mining where information systems are used to gather information about customers, potential employees, and employees on every social media site available? One of the things that the book mentions is that "a recent study reported that 70% of U.S. recruiters and human resource professionals have rejected candidates based on data found online" (Pearlson and Saunders 360).

You also have to consider that "individuals are facing privacy challenges from organizations providing them with services" (Pearlson and Saunders 361). What this is referring to is internet providers and companies like Facebook. They use cookies to be able to "follow individuals' surfing behaviors without them even knowing it" (Pearlson and Saunders 361). Furthermore, they store this data in a database to create "consumer profiles that can be sold" (Pearlson and Saunders 361). Who do you think this information is being sold to? The answer is the companies. Do you really think that companies only buy the "consumer profiles" of their customers? I think not. They are also buying the profiles of their employess without them even realizing it. Why do you think they would want to do that? Because it gives them a mental edge over their employees.

Imagine if everyone was able to read your mind but you were unable to do the same to them. What do you thnk would happen? You would be very vulnerable and easily manipulated. This same effect occurs when companies obtain information about their employees. It makes their employees vulnerable and more easily manipulated especially if they obtain "dirt" on the employees. It is an enslavement tactic.

Customers of internet providers do not have "a right to privacy while searching the internet....the right to monitor customer habits (or employees) in terms of their phone usage, location, emailing behaviors, and a myriad of other behaviors will be affected by how managers decide to use the information that they have collected" (Pearlson and Saunders 361). Managers are using these types of information in managing their employees."
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In case you are wondering, the book that we are reading in the class is entitled "Managing & Using Information Systems: A Strategic Approach" By Keri E. Pearlson and Carol S. Saunders.

My question to you is: Do you agree with these tactics or no?

"Agree" as in "Agree with the morality of these practices?"

No, of course not. The science of advertising as we know it today was founded by Eddie Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud. Advertising and Psychology are of a piece, the former is the daughter of the latter (or the "niece" - it's literally "all in the family" in this case). They are both attempts at Jєωιѕн mind control of the Goy masses... and, to give credit where it's due, they've been pretty successful.

Pope St. Pius V once said of the Jєωs that they "boast of being able to predict the future." Well, endeavors like this are their way of making good on that boast.

Later in that thread, I ended up going into how this practice of selling profiles to a person's company is actually stalking. Stalking is against federal law as well the state that I live in. The book states that courts have ruled it to be ok. But that does not negate stalking. This type of stalking would fall under harassment, and the legal definition of harassment is:

"the act of systematic and/or continued unwanted and annoying actions of one party or a group, including threats and demands."

I personally think that these tactics are apart of the One World Government scheme. Companies who practice this are most definitely Jєωιѕн companies and other multinational companies. When I worked at the Home Depot (a Jєωιѕн company) I suspected that this was being done to me.

Yes I see the correlation between advertising and psychology. Both of which come into the picture when internet companies data mine and sell profiles to other companies. Psychology is being used by companies when they extract profiles on their employees, and trust me not in a good way.

Once again, it should be stated - for this reason and many others - to stay away from social media and limit internet usage to a minimum.  Utilize privacy measures i.e., Startpage or Duck Duck Go for searches, not google or yahoo etc., a private email address such as Cryptogroup, and a vpn.  Clean your system regularly with Malwarebytes, use Firefox to block ads and cookies, etc.

It's easy to avoid most data mining efforts, but YOU have to control your own actions to do so. I have no digital footprint because I take these simple measures.  It's not hard.

That might be good for avoiding data mining. But your still not avoiding the other thing I was talking about. Internet providers are watching everything that you do over the internet, and storing that into a database. They then create a profile based on everything that you do, and sell that profile to companies. You can't avoid that unless you get rid of your internet service. You could still use the internet at a library or something, but thats about it.

A good vpn will take care of most of that.  The ISP will only see encrypted data that they can't decrypt. So they know you're using a VPN, but they don't know what you're using it for.

Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta

A good vpn will take care of most of that.  The ISP will only see encrypted data that they can't decrypt. So they know you're using a VPN, but they don't know what you're using it for.

So a VPN would encrypt all http requests? You might also consider that they must have technology that could decrypt that.

When you say VPN are you saying a router? Usually the internet provider provides the router.

no an ISP can't decrypt if you are using a good vpn.  Too much trouble and expense.  Even the nsa has difficulty.  
Here's a brief primer on the one I use:  http://www.caseyresearch.com/freeman/cryptohippies-response-to-the-nsas-attack-on-encryption

Sorry!  to your question about router, here is an excerpt from wikipedia's simple definition of vpn

"A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network, such as the Internet. It enables a computer to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if it is directly connected to the private network, while benefiting from the functionality, security and management policies of the private network.[1] A VPN is created by establishing a virtual point-to-point connection through the use of dedicated connections, virtual tunneling protocols, or traffic encryptions.

A virtual private network connection across the Internet is similar to a wide area network (WAN) link between websites. From a user perspective, the extended network resources are accessed in the same way as resources available within the private network.[2]"

And a Lifehacker article on how to choose
http://lifehacker.com/5940565/why-you-should-start-using-a-vpn-and-how-to-choose-the-best-one-for-your-needs

also, always use http secure (HTTPS) vs http
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-difference-between-http-and-https.htm

What you are saying could be true. But I have a hard time believing that internet companies are not capable of hacking into or decrypting http requests from our homes. Especially since all http requests go directly to their servers from our homes. I bet you that every http request goes to their servers and from their servers to a data warehouse where they build profiles on each and every customer. Thats what my book is making it sound like anyways.

You say a VPN will prevent them from doing that, but I don't know if I trust that completely. You have to figure that internet companies are hiring IT networking experts. I think they have the resources to be able to see anything they want that passes through those servers.