The scary world of 21st century online data farming

Data GDPR

Have you ever wondered why there are so many suspicious looking free to enter online competitions around in the 21st century, where the prizes on offer just look way too unrealistic to be true? In reality there are hundreds of thousands of these fake competitions, and they exist for one purpose – data farming.

At Winzum we absolutely hate any notion of data farming, as it is one thing that is very quickly dissolving people’s trust in the Internet, and especially genuine online competition platforms like our own. 21st century data farming can be scary if you aren’t in the know, so we thought we would give a bit of context on the subject.

Why on Earth is my data so valuable?

The first thing that many people wonder about 21st century data farming is pretty simple – why is my data even that valuable? Nobody thinks much about giving information such as their name, age and address when signing up for something, but in reality that data is actually incredibly valuable.

The main reason for this is the rise of targeted advertising, mainly on social media sites such as Facebook. In fact, Facebook are constantly collecting data on your user profile, which they then use to create a rounded view of exactly who you are as a person. This is then sold to advertisers, who are subsequently able to reach exactly the right people for their products.

On the face of it this doesn’t sound half bad, however there are lots of nasty companies out there who are using it for more bad than good. Take Cambridge Analytica, for instance, the data firm widely acknowledged to have helped push Brexit over the line with a series of adverts targeting individuals who could be easily swayed.

How data farming is being combatted

In recent years worldwide governments have been putting more and more pressure on organisations such as Facebook and Google to combat data farming, which is undeniably a step in the right direction. Unfortunately these corporations have so much money now that it can be difficult to instigate meaningful change without large-scale implementation of new legal protocols.

GDPR is the EU’s answer to data farming, and it has already made a ton of difference for consumers across Europe. Its legislation makes it a lot harder for companies to sell your data, which is a crucial blow to evil data farming companies. You can read a bit more in-depth about GDPR here [what is GPDR].

Winzum’s pledge to fight online data farming

At Winzum we want you to enter competitions on our platform because its fun, and because we love to bring likeminded customers and brands together. We are a community at the end of the day, which means that selling anybody’s data is completely off the cards.

Our computer whizzes have made sure that your data is incredibly safe, and if you want it deleted off our database all you have to do is ask. You are never for sale, and spam is never an option. It’s just how we roll.

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