A former GOP donor, who once made headlines after calling former president Barack Obama the N-word, fatally shot himself after attempting to kill his wife, according to reports.

  • Hegar@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    In case you were wondering how an obviously insane person comes to be that rich, it’s from stealing your data.

    Apparently he was the founder and chief data scientist at SMA Communications. From their website:

    SMA Communications owns data on over 247 million consumers and over 49 million business contacts. We also have over 179 million registered Voters, 165 million automobile owners, Social media connections and more.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Good luck. If you want to interact with the modern world- have a smartphone, use social media, streaming services, etc., you’re going to have your data sold. And if you don’t do it, the corporation you work for is probably doing it. The horses are already out of the barn. Our data is not ours anymore.

          • Illuminostro@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            You’re delusional if you think you’re a “ghost” online. You can make it harder to track you, but you’re never, ever invisible.

            • Gabu@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              You don’t have to be - all you must do is have the value of selling your data be lower than the cost of acquiring it.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                A lot of jobs ask you for social media contacts. They also advertise via LinkedIn and Indeed, which require personal data. So you don’t have to be, but you’ll be lucky if you get one. And, like I said, once you get one, the company could easily just sell the data you give them. Are you going to refuse to give them your information too? Why would they hire you? Why would they keep you?

                This is the same “everyone can do what I did” nonsense I get from rich libertarians.

      • paysrenttobirds@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        I agree, but this list doesn’t sound particularly like digital behavior, though I’m sure that’s included. Credit card companies were selling your receipts long before online shopping, voter reg (though not it’s history) is public, a lot of this is just buying straight from companies or scraping.

    • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      I never wonder why morally corrupt people are rich.

      It is the about the only way you can become wealthy.

    • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Jesus, imagine being next-of-kin and this was your inheritance. If it were a physical factory I’d order it shut down and burn it, then leave the smoking ruins as a warning to others.