I agree with you but unfortunately I am a tinkerer. That side of me wants an ATSC 3.0 tuner. My practical side has won so far but for how long? 
If Plex decides to fully support it I will likely give in to the temptation. Assuming their claims are true and reception is better it might even be a good practical decision. Iâm right between a couple major markets. The farther of the two is right on the edge of my reach.
How does selling the data of âTexas Resident - 123 Main St, Austin, TX 78601â equate to someone watching a TV station? Yes, they sell DL data - but that doesnât identify you to an IP address, and no way to identify a person watching something on TV.
Social security numbers and driverâs license numbers canât be sold by any 3rd party for reasons other than deciding on a loan, employment or other similar transactions. It also has to be encrypted on servers, and specific security measures have to be enacted to ensure that the information isnât divulged.
But even if they did, social security numbers and driverâs license numbers donât match to an IP address. So they still canât identify you as an individual by simply watching a program on an ATSC 3.0 channel. It would only be possible by logging onto their server.
Once they have a name and address they can match that data with IP address info. Unless you keep your ATSC 3.0 devices disconnected from the internet they will have your IP address and a list of what you watched on their station. It isnât yet clear to me if they can access what you watch on other stations.
There are two ways to âreverse engineerâ an ip address. One is a database like IP2Location (this only gives the city, state & ISP - but it is often incorrect - they show me in Michigan, but I am in Texas). The second is to get a court order for the ISP to turn over data to match an IP address to a physical address. This is only given by a court when criminal activity is done.
Virtually all ISPs will not turn over the data without a court order or strong evidence of criminal activity. What they show on TV regarding computers and IP addresses is no where near reality.
âReverse engineerâ isnât a way of getting IP addresses.
To get someones IP address you host a resource like an image. When they load the resource they transmit their IP address so you have a place to send the data.
Having several websites I manage, I know what information is provided. I know the browser, IP address and date/time each individual access the website. But that doesnât equate to an actual user. Only if that user logs in to the website do I match the IP address to an actual person. Otherwise, it is âanonymous userâ at IP XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX using XXX browser at 2:30PM.
They donât know who you are without you logging in. They know the viewing habits based on the channel you choose. That is all. You are âanonymous userâ.
Iâm surprised then that you donât know the correct terminology. That is where the data broker comes in. If you donât have an account to link to you buy data from a data broker and link the IP address. Iâm an A+ certified computer technician and have been running servers for around 30 years now.
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Being both a computer guru for the last 40 years, running servers for the last 30, and websites for many years - and being a data broker for the last 15 years, I can honestly tell you that it isnât that simple. An IP address is not like a social security number that never changes. With the advent of high speed internet, it is true that IP addresses change less often, but they do change. Every time you reboot your modem, unless you have a fixed IP address, your IP address changes.
Only the ISP has records on your IP address and the length of time you were on that address. Many people access the internet via a phone or tablet, and that IP address is constantly changing. The ability to connect an IP address to a physical address is a very inexact science at best. In fact, about 10 years ago, I worked with federal law enforcement trying to match up IP addresses to individuals, and there was about a 10-15% accuracy rate (based on internet form fills with well over 4 billion records). The data was recorded when individuals signed up for different things on the internet, and gave a name, address, phone, email and other information, and the IP, URL, datetime stamp was automatically collected. With data that was less than 3 days old, it had about a 40% accuracy rate.
They did that because the ISPs were very reluctant to turn over data for investigations. And the people they were searching for? Child molesters. Can you image an ISP protecting them?
It isnât as easy as you are portraying.
You might be very surprised at how good âthe artâ has become. And itâs not just that people allow others to spy on them voluntarily, the algorithms that companies like Google and Facebook (just examples) use are pretty good at knowing who you are, where youâre going to be, what you eat, what your likes and dislikes are, etc. And itâs âyouâ not some abstract anonymous you.
I divorced myself as much as possible from Google and it has made a world of difference. Recommend everyone else do the same. But also, Facebook, Amazon, etcâŚ
Easy? Maybe not, but when thereâs enough data, maybe itâs easier than you think (?)
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I think you will find home IP addresses donât change nearly as much as you believe. Mine hasnât changed in years. My friends IP address hasnât changed in years either. I know because both of us host personal servers at our homes. Rebooting a router doesnât actually change the IP address in most cases. The standard public IP address lease time is usually about 7 days. Your router will automatically attempt to renew that lease in around 3.5 days. In most cases you will be assigned the exact same IP address upon renewal. Under a typical scenario you have to turn your router off for a minimum of 3.5 days to lose the lease and be assigned a new IP address. Since the address is usually tied to the MAC address of your router or modem the most common reason for an IP address change in your home is the replacement of equipment which happens infrequently.
This was an interesting conversion but itâs going nowhere. You went from skeptical of people selling your data to being a âdata brokerâ? Feel free to remain skeptical. Iâm skeptical about many things myself.
I agree. The more you read on this subject the more eye opening it becomes. Google and other are not making billions because they have information on some abstract consumer. There are many, many, ways that all the disparate information is linked together to know who you are.
I didnât mean to hijack this thread about ATSC 3.0. I believe there are enough facts and evidence to indicate that ATSC 3.0 is happening for much the same reason that Google got into the smart phone business in the first place.
In reality, if you are âconnectedâ with any device - big brother is spying on you. You canât have a phone. You canât use the internet. You would literally need to live in a log cabin in Montana, foregoing all modern technology. And donât forget the tin foil cap. You will be safe then.
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Maybe. But Iâd say 99% of âthingsâ on the Internet are not doing that.
And, âbig brotherâ (if youâre talking anything govât) doesnât have nearly as much data about you as, letâs say, Google does (though maybe they wish they did).
The NSA scoops up more meaningful meta data then all combined. But just because they have the data doesnât mean they have the sophistication to mine it.
Where do I get one of those cool hats?
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