How do you understand data and TARTLE? Find out more about how the platform can help you earn money while empowering you online, as Alexander and Jason explore the second learning module in TARTLE University.
We cannot understate the ubiquity and importance of data in a world where everyone is plugged into the internet. Data is everything; it’s the record of who you are in humanity and it has every action that all human beings have taken here on this globe.
Join Alexander and Jason as they discuss the second learning module available in TARTLE University.
Data security should be a high priority on two fronts. First, people should be taught that their information is valuable. They need to have the tools and equipment available to store, and secure their personal information.
Second, people also need the opportunity to earn from their hard work. We produce data by the second:. Our geographical location, heartbeat, choices, and actions are all information we may be generating based on the settings we have on our devices.
However, today’s status quo puts us in an uncomfortable position. We are being harvested for our data by institutions and entities that do not necessarily have our best interests at heart. Today, we are made to choose between maintaining the status quo and leaving power in the hands of other people–or claiming what’s rightfully ours by supporting the platforms that support us.
If you have an internet connection, you are capable of accessing TARTLE. TARTLE gives you the ability to fill out secure, encrypted, data packets that you are free to sell at your own pace. Through this platform, people have the opportunity to practice self-responsibility over their own data.
It’s time to explore platforms that support your choices.
What’s your data worth?
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
Follow Alexander McCaig on Twitter and Linkedin.
What if you could get paid to learn more about your data? Join Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby in this special episode on TARTLE University learning modules.
We live in a world where other people reap the benefits of our hard work. For decades, we have been kept in the dark about the power of our data–but now is our chance to change that. Through TARTLE, we have the opportunity to empower, equalize, and take ownership of our own data.
Today, data is a crucial part of scaling businesses. Companies need to know more about their audience, their processes, and their products. There are so many blind spots that only information can answer.
TARTLE is a free marketplace that empowers the seller and buyer of data. It’s a nonprofit platform that facilitates ethical data sharing. Continued usage of this platform gives us the opportunity to change our perspective of data, and see it as the fundamental record of truth that can help us elevate all human understanding.
We emphasize how the platform is a free and public marketplace because it is only through these features that empowerment can truly be achieved for both buyers and sellers. Regardless of race, religion, color, or creed, anyone can participate in the process of sharing data.
Ultimately, TARTLE has a proven, consistent track record of being transparent in every single process. Every step is meant to involve the end users, without the platform taking anything from any transaction.
It’s time we invest in platforms that have the best interests of humanity at heart.
What’s your data worth?
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
Follow Alexander McCaig on Twitter and Linkedin.
One petabyte of information is equal to 500 billion pages of standard printed text.
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), the EU’s watchdog, has made a shocking discovery: Europol has a data cache that’s at least four petabytes, filled with sensitive personal information that was unlawfully collected and held.
Join Alexander and Jason as they discuss Europol’s massive, controversial data cache–and the disturbing implications of the institution’s actions.
Have you ever given a second thought about what it means to turn on your smartphone’s Location setting? Or what would happen if you clicked on Accept All Cookies whenever you entered a new website?
Since most of us live as creatures of habit, our small decisions to use these settings and forget about them can have a big impact. Without your informed consent, they could plot out your entire schedule. Your favorite places to eat and hang out, the gym you go to, your workplace. Everything can be accessed and filed away.
Europol is primed to become the center of machine learning and AI in policing. And yet, the bloc’s watchdog has uncovered a dark truth: that they have been unlawfully storing information secondary or tertiary to their investigations. Hacked data from encrypted phone services and information from asylum seekers who were never involved in any crime have been stowed away without the full, informed consent of those involved.
It’s true: we need to trust that our government institutions have our best interests at heart. But if they can’t even be upfront about the amount of information they have on their citizens, then that leaves so much room for misuse and manipulation.
In this episode, Jason narrates the story of Frank van der Linde. Van der Linde, a political activist, was placed on a terror watchlist in his native Netherlands and later removed. However, he had moved to Berlin before the removal and this prompted the Dutch police to share his data with their German counterparts and Europol.
After discovering this, he attempted to have his personal data removed from any international databases. But Europol told him that they had nothing he was “entitled to have access to.”
Van der Linde’s situation is a wake-up call to the harms associated with a lack of transparency. Behind his back, Europol shared his personal information with the German police. In the name of public security, it’s possible for police to share data with other police in other countries. But why is it so difficult to share this data with us? How quickly can we get persecuted for speaking truth to power?
Your data is worth your life. Entrust your personal information to platforms that know how to treat it with dignity and respect.
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
Follow Alexander McCaig on Twitter and Linkedin.
Automation, data collection, machine learning, and artificial intelligence was developed to make humanity more efficient. But in many ways, the complete opposite happens.
When companies prioritize setting up multiple streams of data over investing in data management or data analytics, then the flood of data will eventually become overwhelming. It is crucial that businesses have a system and process for collecting, using, and managing data.
IT and HR departments, in particular, face this issue the most. Plenty of teams do not have the expertise in data analytics to make the most out of the data being collected. There are so many tools for data collection, but the true utility of data is out of reach in many cases.
Join Alexander and Jason as they question modern data collection methods, and how it can be improved to create a win-win situation for both businesses and their target audience.
Imagine having data collection software that could track employee behavior, keystrokes, morale, and employee sentiments. Or having companies tap into Fitbits and Apple Watches so they can monitor your health and keep wellness costs done.
Aside from the fact that this sounds like something out of George Orwell’s 1984, your target audience would want to know, at the very least, that all the data that’s being collected is being treated with dignity and respect.
Today, data is an extension of an individual’s identity. It has information on personal habits, whereabouts, and relationships. Individuals must hold businesses, applications, and institutions to a higher level of accountability when it comes to managing personal data. On the other side of the coin, businesses need to invest in tools and platforms that respect the digital identity of their target audience.
Data analytics isn’t something that you should do on your own and it definitely isn’t something you should shoehorn into your HR or IT department. Instead of ingesting multiple streams at once and then cramming for solutions to overcome the flood, TARTLE gives businesses an avenue to go directly to the individuals who create these data streams and buy their information from them.
TARTLE was built to give companies they need to source ethical data. There is no need to invest in third party programs and backdoor applications that disenfranchise either you or your audience. On TARTLE, everybody gets the compensation they deserve for working on their data.
What’s your data worth?
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
Follow Alexander McCaig on Twitter and Linkedin.
Big tech is making some big moves on your personal information.
Now, they’re making it look good by dressing it up with some fun statistics. For example, Spotify Unwrapped gives you a list of all the music you’ve listened to the most in the past year. Google Maps has a similar function. It compiles a neat list of all the countries, cities, and places you’ve visited.
It’s time to call this out for what it is: they’re showing you all the personal information they’ve gathered from you, and are keeping it in their systems.
Your location data is critical information. We’ve seen journalists, politicians, and gamers doxxed for one thing or the other on the internet.
In this episode, Alexander and Jason discuss how a Catholic priest was outed by a Christian publication. This happened because they tracked his location using Grindr, and found that he was visiting gay bars and private residence from 2018 to 2020. They concluded that it was his phone based on the location data as well.
“A mobile device correlated to Burrill emitted app data signals from the location-based hookup app Grindr on a near-daily basis during parts of 2018, 2019, and 2020 — at both his USCCB office and his USCCB-owned residence, as well as during USCCB meetings and events in other cities.” - The Pillar
That’s highly specialized location data. Three years of the priest’s whereabouts, being logged and stored by the app. And a data vendor was all it took to ruin his entire life.
Should he have been a priest if he was a closeted homosexual? That’s not what we’re trying to answer here. The core of this issue is that someone tracked this individual’s private choices and exposed them without their consent, without them even being aware that they were tracked in the first place.
Those fun end-of-the-year summaries on your app activity aren’t for free. They are blatantly telling you that you are the product, and you can have your data weaponized against you without your knowledge. That’s the kind of chaotic world we can expect with the inevitable weaponization of data.
This is a wake-up call for you to start being more vigilant about who and where you share your data. You need to own the information you create on your gadgets. Those are your personal assets and you worked hard to create them.
With TARTLE, you can take that information into your hands and choose to share it on your time, at your pace. Stop letting third parties and vendors take that away from you. Your choice, your time, your data.
Sign up for TARTLE here.
Trust can be difficult to establish—trust from society, in a brand, with corporations, or with anybody that chooses to participate in TARTLE. If you’ve ever run a business before, you know that finding and nurturing repeat customers is no easy feat.
In this episode, Jason Rigby briefly discusses the world’s pivot towards Web 3.0. We’re moving into an era where transparency on the internet is key. This is a world where we give the end user opportunities to empower themselves, and make the decision to sell their data.
We are creating a world where individuals can take back control of their personal information and create relationships with data buyers from around the world. For sellers, this is a chance to connect with other people, businesses, and organizations that can help them uplift their life.
How far can our personal information travel without our knowledge? Whenever you are purchasing data, there is a high likelihood that the source is incentivized purely off of profit.
All the data you are using to create and improve your products and services is made possible because of the support of your target audience. These are human beings who find value in what you do and create. It doesn’t make sense to get your data from people outside of those that support what you do.
As a buyer, you need to be mindful of where you source all your raw materials—even your information. Other firms may be selling you their data just so they can profit from the covert surveillance and manipulation of the very people you are trying to serve.
If you want to create goodwill and trust, you need to nurture a direct relationship with your customers. You don’t want to leave them in the dark, wondering how you know all about their consumer behavior. Ethical data sourcing has become a crucial part of corporate social responsibility, and it’s time to make that a priority in every organization.
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
Follow Alexander McCaig on Twitter and Linkedin.
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Many people look at TARTLE and expect it to be a complicated concept.
But really, it’s a lot like selling a cup of coffee in a cafe.
If someone enters the store and wants to buy your coffee, you have the freedom to decide whether or not you want to give them that. As a business owner, you’ll want to maximize your profits whenever and wherever you can. But you also need to be firm about store policy and refuse to serve customers who are not following the rules, like if they enter without wearing a mask.
This basic exchange of goods and services has been around forever. And the concept is easy to understand because it’s tangible. Now, how is TARTLE applying this to data?
The internet is everywhere, even when we’re offline. Everything that we do today is being watched, recorded, tracked, and stored somewhere. You are being profiled and monitored for future reference. That’s how the world works right now—but we’re here to say that it doesn’t need to continue like this.
All the information that’s on you is, obviously, yours. You rightfully own your personal information. They’re all the cups of coffee you never got to sell, because someone decided to go ahead and sell them for you.
Your phone, desktop, laptop, Fitbit, Smart TV, iPad, smart refrigerator, car, and basically anything that’s even remotely related to modern technology—all these gadgets are filling out data packets that you deserve to earn from.
So where does TARTLE come in?
TARTLE lets you consolidate all your personal information so that you can directly sell it to buyers around the world. Think of us as your coffee shop. We are the place that allows you to set up your equipment, brew your cups of coffee, and sell them to the customers that come in. Except we don’t demand that you pay rent, or give us a cut of your profits. You are free to set up shop and sell your data on our platform, always.
We’ve let big tech make money off of us for far too long. As we continue to innovate new technologies, it’s becoming more crucial for us to create ethical sources of data.
We want to help forge secure, direct, and authentic connections between buyers and sellers. Helping humanity evolve with technologies that are considerate of our growth on this earth. That’s what TARTLE is about.
What’s your cup of coffee worth?
Have you ever received a spam message advertising shady get-rich-quick schemes or work-from-home job offers? Chances are, your data and personal information has been pulled off the internet somewhere, and then sold to someone who will send you those texts.
Sends chills up your spine, right? You have no idea where your data went, how it left, and you never gave your consent to anything in the first place. The only person who benefits from this entire process is the one who sold your information.
So you’re missing out on two fronts: first, you aren’t getting the money you should be getting for sharing your personal information. Second, you’ve got an unknown entity trying to force a product or service down your throat.
Let’s make ethically sourced leads a thing. With TARTLE, you are fully involved in the lead generation process. You can choose when you share your data and who you’re going to share it with. This way, you can show your support for the buyers on TARTLE who actually have the products and services that are beneficial for you. The buyers, in turn, can find direct data points on the people that fit in their target audience, like you.
And the best part is that you get paid for your efforts.
More people are staying at home, and the internet has become our point of contact for a variety of purposes: communication, connection, work, and leisure. If you are a small business owner or budding entrepreneur, you know just how crucial it is to build a website that can effectively generate leads and hit your target market.
And if you’ve ever had to do market research, you know just how difficult it can be to find out where your target audience frequents and how you can source the data you need from them. So why don’t you just establish a relationship immediately? Through TARTLE, you can ethically source all the information you need and know that you are participating in a secure, equal transaction. We don’t have any black boxes or bloatware piggybacking on the TARTLE Marketplace. It’s just you, data, and the person at the other end of the transaction.
Your journey as a seller in TARTLE begins when you register, connect your bank account, and fill out your first data packet. Once you’ve saved your information, the platform captures your consent and publishes that data packet. Buyers are now free to go in and buy that information from you.
While you can choose to autosell data packets, you also have the option to manually sell it depending on who is offering a bid.
If you are a buyer looking for lead generation data packets, you’ve made your target audience a part of the process. It’s not technically a cold lead anymore. It’s a warm lead with a pre-established relationship, qualified ahead of time, and made massively more efficient along the sales pipeline for both buyers and sellers.
Not sure we have what you’re looking for just yet? The beautiful part about TARTLE is that you can create a wish list and decide on the price of each lead based on your budget. Our platform is optimized to fit the budget of any business, regardless of size.
Let’s hone in on the importance of ethical data sourcing.
There’s a reason why the world’s largest tech companies are having to go before politicians and explain themselves. Data is becoming an incredibly important part of our lives. It’s our footprint on the internet, almost an extension of our identity.
The reality that we are mass producing data by the second means that it is the backbone of the future. By virtue of existing, we are creating tons of data. And we need to be proactive, to start giving businesses and other entities the opportunity to ethically source data.
What’s your data worth?
How much do you know about Fac(ad)ebook?
Throughout the years, we’ve heard plenty. The platform has inspired, surprised, and betrayed us. A lot of us seem to have a love-hate relationship with Facebook, because while we recognize and resent their control over our personal information, we continue to condone their actions by being present on the site.
In this episode, Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby analyze the true intentions of Facebook after reading an article on how researchers lost access to their accounts after digging up data against the platform.
Since its creation, the platform has had its fair share of ups and downs. While it remains one of the biggest social media sites in the world and its presence has helped people connect with their loved ones it’s also been the subject of controversy.
In 2014, Facebook was criticized for running psychological tests on 70,000 unconsenting participants in 2012. This test involved removing a certain list of words from their news feeds to see how it affected their reactions to posts.
Later, in 2018, the Cambridge Analytica scandal showed everyone just how compromised their Facebook accounts were. The data analytics firm improperly harvested data from millions of users for ad targeting during the 2016 election.
And in 2019, the FTC fined Facebook $5 billion over violations of user privacy.
There are plenty more scandals in the past decade to illustrate how the platform has consistently pushed the boundaries of user privacy and personal rights. And yet, people continue to use the platform—effectively giving Facebook the power to also continue commercializing their personal data.
Alexander McCaig clarifies that he doesn’t care about the platform. He explains that this is because Facebook is a commercialization engine, and has been clear about their intentions for their users.
It’s difficult to expect change from a super tech company that is set on its ambition to continue profiting from its users. A more realistic goal to work on would be to take away its biggest source of income, which is its massive user base.
Jason pointed out that if a huge momentum against Facebook occurred and a billion users collectively decided to just stop using the platform, it would have a tangible and more concrete impact on their actions. In contrast, writing articles would not be as effective.
The anger towards big tech corporations like Facebook is misplaced. With all the awareness around what it’s capable of doing and what it has already chosen to do before, people don’t need more content on how they’re being used as cash cows. They need a way to mobilize against the platform; an incentive to move away from using Facebook as their primary source of connection and entertainment.
The TARTLE platform is capable of giving people this renewed purpose on the internet. The marketplace is designed to fully respect the autonomy and privacy of each individual. Users are free to fill out all the data packets they want and earn from their hard work. Everybody who is on the TARTLE platform has the opportunity to become a data champion.
If you have the strong desire to stop an enormous commercialization system like Facebook from using people as cash cows, the first step towards achieving your goal is to find out what you have control over—yourself, and your participation in that very system.
Cutting off their access to your data may seem insignificant when you are just one person out of a billion users on the platform. However, change is never about one big miraculous step that suddenly and neatly solves all the problems. It’s a series of small steps that amount to a big change over time.
You could be the first step of the movement that takes down Facebook’s monopoly over other people’s data. All you need to do is stop using it—and if you want a renewed perspective on your power as an individual, make the switch to the TARTLE marketplace.
It’s time to find out: what’s your data worth?
Sign up for the TARTLE Marketplace through this link here.
As long as you are alive, you are constantly creating data—and in today’s digital age, it has become more important than ever before to know how to harness the power of your own data.. The question now is, how is data exchanged? How do companies obtain data?
Through the TARTLE Marketplace, everyone is able to exchange data. Even better, people are financially incentivized to sell their data to sellers. Buyers can also purchase specific data packets, from medical to financial data.
In this episode, join Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby as they discuss the value of data, and what it means to share private information. They will also be listening to David Sinclair and Lex Fridman’s opinions on harnessing big data.
Most people nowadays use the internet in their everyday lives. Since everyone is almost always plugged into the digital world, it’s no surprise that everyone’s data is up for grabs as well. There are plenty of third-party sites accessing our personal data and this complex web of interactions makes it near impossible to scrub our data off of the internet.
While it is difficult to find solutions to all the data ownership problems that we’ve run into on the internet, TARTLE does make it possible for individuals to become more informed and responsible about their own data. Through the platform, you have the capacity to share and sell your data. You also have the right to erase any of your unsold data whenever you want.
When it comes to data exchange, security and privacy are top priorities. Fortunately, TARTLE has a completely self-sovereign architecture for every person. That means that nothing gets leaked, as the passwords and other related information are only known to their respective owners.
This is especially important for companies who want to purchase data from TARTLE. When a privacy issue arises, these companies do not want the liability of a data breach, nor do they want to get sued by their clients and those who sold their data.
Additionally, purchasing data through TARTLE can be seen as a verifier that the data was acquired ethically. TARTLE obtains data with consent from its respective owners while paying them, and gives them the power to choose how their data is used.
One of the most common concerns when it comes to sharing any kind of information online, regardless of whether it is related to our personal health or medical records, is whether it will be safe and secure once it is uploaded to another platform. When people feel that their data may end up being permanently stored on the internet, or that they do not have control over their own information, then they will naturally stop feeling the incentive to share.
A part of the hesitation to share personal data stems from the reality that we do not feel like we have control over it in the first place. Another common reason could be attributed to the misperception that if we have any ailments or illnesses, it is because we do not take care of our health.
Sharing valuable and relevant information is key to helping improve the lives of everybody. There is nothing to be embarrassed about. Not your medical records, nor anything else. Every single one of us is a human being, and we are all learning from each other.
How do we encourage people to be more proactive about sharing their information?
The TARTLE platform gives people an opportunity to experience the benefits of sharing data in multiple ways. First, it encourages individuals to be more empowered about their own information. They no longer have to feel like they are victims of their own data.
Second, TARTLE provides a safe space for people to learn how to control their information. The marketplace does not profit from the data gathering in any way. Its main goal is to be of benefit to humanity by giving people the tools to become more self-aware and responsible.
Finally, the marketplace gives the people on the ground an opportunity to directly connect to causes, organizations, and businesses that they resonate with the most. In the status quo, one may need to go through multiple levels of red tape before they can participate in a certain cause. With TARTLE, they have the opportunity to directly express their support by selling data packets. It is similar to giving these movements a part of themselves.
What’s your data worth?
