--- title: They Know What You Do: Data Mining on the Internet | TIME description: TIME columnist Joel Stein learns just what data mining companies know about him. Turns out, it's a lot canonical: https://time.com/video/vjjaBbXv/ og:title: They Know What You Do: Data Mining on the Internet og:description: TIME columnist Joel Stein learns just what data mining companies know about him. Turns out, it's a lot og:url: https://time.com/video/vjjaBbXv/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vjjaBbXv/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: They Know What You Do: Data Mining on the Internet twitter:description: TIME columnist Joel Stein learns just what data mining companies know about him. Turns out, it's a lot twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vjjaBbXv/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # They Know What You Do: Data Mining on the Internet > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: They Know What You Do: Data Mining on the Internet [Watch (HLS stream): They Know What You Do: Data Mining on the Internet](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vjjaBbXv.m3u8) (2:32)  _Published 2011-03-11. TIME columnist Joel Stein learns just what data mining companies know about him. Turns out, it's a lot_ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:11 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Joel Stein House Video](/video/NygQXgbs/) ### Joel Stein House Video [How They Train: Pole Vaulting with Joel Stein](/video/4p0k5uC8/) ### How They Train: Pole Vaulting with Joel Stein [Joel Stein, the Sundance Waiter](/video/2CAXfBDp/) ### Joel Stein, the Sundance Waiter --- ## Transcript I'm Joel Stein, columnist for TIME. And I performed a little experiment on myself. I want to find out what Google knows about me. Not just Google but a host of companies online and off that mine the vast amount of data taken from the website to check out the stuff I buy, my e- mails, my Facebook photos, my warranty cards, my customer reward cards and magazines I subscribed to. I am unbelievably even more interesting to other people that I am to myself. So, here's the data mining on me. Google's ad networks know I'm a guy who's interested in politics, Asian food, perfume, celebrity gossip animated movies and crime. I didn't know about the crime part. They also believe I don't care about books in literature or people and society. Yahoo has me down as a 36 to 45- year- old mail who uses a Mac computer and likes hockey, rap, rock, parenting, recipes, clothes, books and beauty products. Based on my $ 180 splurge on women's lingerie, BlueKai thinks I'm an 18 to 19- year- old woman who likes clothing and shoes. EXelate thinks I have a high net worth and dig green living. Intellidyn, which says I'm a writer at TIME and a highly assimilated Jew. RapLeaf, a data- mining company that was recently banned by Facebook from viewing user's pages because it improperly used people's personal information, thinks I have no kids, work as a medical professional and don't care about food. ReaLeaf clearly does not read my column. The Nielsen company uses its connect-- >> And on and on it goes, like someone ravaging through my digital underwear drawer. Each of these pieces of information about me has sold advertisers for about 2 / 5 of a cent, which then deliver me an internet ad, send me a catalog or mail me a credit card offer. It's collected in lots of ways. Tracking devices on websites that allow a company to watch me travel around the web, airlines, supermarket and drugstore or world programs that I signed up for, that's all my purchase information. Magazines can sell those subscriber lists like this one. Apps you download on your cell that look at your contact list and location. You know how everything has seemed free for the last few years? It wasn't. It's just that no one told you that instead of money, you're paying with your personal information. I am Joel, the highly assimilated Jewish, WiFi warrior, influencer, 18 to 19- year- old clothes loving woman with a graduate degree in the medical profession, Stein for TIME. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"They Know What You Do: Data Mining on the Internet","description":"TIME columnist Joel Stein learns just what data mining companies know about him. 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