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 Orwellâs 1984, your target audience would want to know, at the very least, that all the data thatâs being collected is being treated with dignity and respect.
Today, data is an extension of an individualâs 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 isnât something that you should do on your own and it definitely isnât 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.
Whatâs your data worth?
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
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Big tech is making some big moves on your personal information.
Now, theyâre making it look good by dressing it up with some fun statistics. For example, Spotify Unwrapped gives you a list of all the music youâve 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 youâve visited.
Itâs time to call this out for what it is: theyâre showing you all the personal information theyâve gathered from you, and are keeping it in their systems.
Your location data is critical information. Weâve 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.
âA 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 â at both his USCCB office and his USCCB-owned residence, as well as during USCCB meetings and events in other cities.â - The Pillar
Thatâs highly specialized location data. Three years of the priestâs 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? Thatâs not what weâre trying to answer here. The core of this issue is that someone tracked this individualâs 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 arenât for free. They are blatantly telling you that you are the product, and you can have your data weaponized against you without your knowledge. Thatâs 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 establishâtrust from society, in a brand, with corporations, or with anybody that chooses to participate in TARTLE. If youâve 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 worldâs pivot towards Web 3.0. Weâre 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 doesnât 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 materialsâeven 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 donât 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 itâs time to make that a priority in every organization.
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
Many people look at TARTLE and expect it to be a complicated concept.
But really, itâs 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, youâll 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 itâs tangible. Now, how is TARTLE applying this to data?
The internet is everywhere, even when weâre offline. Everything that we do today is being watched, recorded, tracked, and stored somewhere. You are being profiled and monitored for future reference. Thatâs how the world works right nowâbut weâre here to say that it doesnât need to continue like this.
All the information thatâs on you is, obviously, yours. You rightfully own your personal information. Theyâre 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 thatâs even remotely related to modern technologyâall 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 donât 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.
Weâve let big tech make money off of us for far too long. As we continue to innovate new technologies, itâs 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. Thatâs what TARTLE is about.
Whatâs 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 youâre missing out on two fronts: first, you arenât getting the money you should be getting for sharing your personal information. Second, youâve got an unknown entity trying to force a product or service down your throat.
Letâs 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 youâre 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 youâve 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 donât 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 donât have any black boxes or bloatware piggybacking on the TARTLE Marketplace. Itâs 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 youâve 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, youâve made your target audience a part of the process. Itâs not technically a cold lead anymore. Itâs 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 youâre 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.
Letâs hone in on the importance of ethical data sourcing.
Thereâs a reason why the worldâs largest tech companies are having to go before politicians and explain themselves. Data is becoming an incredibly important part of our lives. Itâs 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.
Whatâs your data worth?
How much do you know about Fac(ad)ebook?
Throughout the years, weâve 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 itâs 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 platformâeffectively giving Facebook the power to also continue commercializing their personal data.
Alexander McCaig clarifies that he doesnât 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.
Itâs 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 itâs capable of doing and what it has already chosen to do before, people donât need more content on how theyâre 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 overâyourself, 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. Itâs 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 Facebookâs monopoly over other peopleâs data. All you need to do is stop using itâand if you want a renewed perspective on your power as an individual, make the switch to the TARTLE marketplace.
Itâs time to find out: whatâs your data worth?
Sign up for the TARTLE Marketplace through this link here.
As long as you are alive, you are constantly creating dataâand in todayâs 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 Fridmanâs 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, itâs no surprise that everyoneâs 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 weâve 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.
Whatâs your data worth?
Why Should you Ethically Source your Data?
We talk a lot about ethically sourced data over at TARTLE HQ. Itâs a big part of our drive to show buyers why they should be using us. Yet, whenever we talk to companies and organizations that purchase data, we find they are using third party data. They willingly admit they donât really know what the true source of the data is and that this is probably a weakness. However, they also believe this is their only option. They are convinced there is not an alternative way of acquiring data out there. What is interesting is that a lot of data buyers donât love that they feel trapped in that system. Many would actually prefer a more âfarm to tableâ approach to getting their data but have no idea how to go about that.
TARTLE of course provides exactly this service. We allow buyers to be in direct contact with the people they are buying data from. Yes, people. Thatâs how you know this is a truly ethical way of sourcing data, it respects the people behind the data and gives buyers the chance to realize and experience that. It makes it harder for people to make all of their business decisions in an abstract, theoretical world in which no one is actually affected by those decisions. When you get your data from the source, itâs much easier to realize that your decisions will either help or harm others, a fact that is more likely to keep your efforts honest.
There are a few other positive effects to ethically sourcing your data through TARTLE. One is that you get to feel better about how it was acquired. You know where it came from and you actually pay the individual for it. There is full consent involved, it wasnât skimmed or scammed or gotten through any sort of back door method.
That data is also much more granular. You can really understand the ins and outs of how that data youâve purchased reflects the personâs life, and how it is affected byâŠwhatever it is you are collecting data about. Whether itâs a product or service you have recently launched, one you will launch or you are conducting a medical study on respiratory issues in different parts of the world, you are getting a full picture, not just of the particular data points you are immediately interested in but of their context as well. Context in turn is precisely what gives you greater understanding of the data, enabling you to make more efficient use of it through making better decisions.
Now, to be fair, getting data through us takes a bit more time and work. At least at first. Itâs a different process and it will take getting used to. It will require a bit of patience to figure out how to ask the right questions so you get the responses that will be the most helpful to you. Of course it isnât as easy as buying a bunch of third party data and feeding it through a prescribed algorithm to getâŠsomething.
Our system will seem more difficult at first but that is only because it takes time to get the best data. I saw a sign at a burger joint the other day that said âBe patient, real burgers take timeâ. Data is the same way. Real data, real information takes time to acquire, but in the end, it is obviously worth it.
Not to mention, buyers need to realize that when they collect data, they really do have a responsibility to treat the sources of their data with respect, not because in the end it will make your bottom line grow but because those sources are in fact people, people who have rights, dreams and desires of their own. So, if you donât like the third party system, we are here. Work with us and ethically source your data and help lift up others in the process.
Whatâs their data worth?
NuWave, known for data analytics just bought Big Bear which provides a lot of cloud computing and storage services. Why does this matter? It matters because both are contractors to the US government, including the NSA. Naturally, that means they are (or better be) very concerned with security. After all, itâs hard to go more than a day or two without learning about a major data breach at a national corporation or even the government itself getting hacked. Cybersecurity has never been more in the forefront.
We at TARTLE get questions about cybersecurity all the time. After all, we are asking people who sign up with us to funnel their data through our servers, so the concern is understandable. And it should go without saying that we take every precaution to ensure that you data is secure with us. With that said, there some additional points to make concerning cybersecurity and our overall approach to data as a society.
One is that the term cybersecurity implies something entirely new. The truth is, it isnât. Sure, the digital aspect is new, but take that away and itâs simply information security, something that has been a concern for as long as people have been sharing information they didnât want others to see. Think back just a few decades. In WWII and other wars following, if there was information that had to be shared quickly it was done over the radio, using equipment that was available to even the poorest people within range. In order to keep sensitive information out of enemy hands, it was necessary to develop unique code systems. Yet, those systems were still at risk. Someone could always break the code, which of course applied pressure to develop ever more complex, or at least unexpected codes. Even before that, sensitive information was literally transported by men carrying letters on horseback. All one had to do was capture the carrier and read the letters. And then â well you get the picture. Itâs always been important and difficult to secure sensitive information, all that has changed is the medium in which we do it.
Another point is how comfortable we are with sharing information already. How many social media platforms are you signed up with? How many streaming services? Heck, do you have a smartphone? We know for a fact that many of these companies are already collecting all your data and using it to target specific advertising to you with the sole goal of parting you from your money. They also have no qualms at all about selling your data to third parties for ends that we simply have no way of knowing. And itâs no secret at this point that smartphones are listening to your conversations and adjusting ads accordingly. What about every website with a notice about cookies and you have to accept or decline? Most of us accept the terms without giving it a second thought. Yet, we know full well that they are tracking our activity online. The only question is how much are they tracking and whether or not they are doing anything we donât know. Shop online? That means your credit card number or PayPal account information is stored on someoneâs server somewhere.
Finally, many social media companies have shown a disturbing willingness to share data with or adjust their search parameters according to the whims of government authorities, even foreign governments who have demonstrated that they are more than happy to use technology to oppress people.
Being concerned with security in the digital world is a good thing and it would be a lot better if more people were more conscious about the vulnerability of their data. Signing up with TARTLE is actually an important step in not just controlling how your data gets shared but in better protecting your data whether you share it or not. With our VPN and firewalls your data will be at least as secure with us as with anyone else. Even better, we wonât sell it behind your back and if you want to sell it, you are the one who gets rewarded.
Whatâs your data worth? Sign up and join the TARTLE Marketplace with this link here.
What's your opinion of the Gen Zs? Have you ever stopped to think about all the things that didnât exist when you were a kid but take for granted now? Or all the things that youâve never used but your parents and grandparents take for granted? Boomers for example never knew a world without cars. GenX never knew a world without TV. Millennials grew up in a world where video game consoles and compact discs were common. GenZ, the zoomers, may well go their whole lives without ever putting a disc of any kind into a player. Why? Because they have never known a world without the internet.Â
When they were born, their GenX and Millennial parents were already getting most of their information and starting to do a large part of their shopping online from their laptops and early smartphones. Now, we just call them phones. GenZ doesnât just shop and get their info online, they do everything there. They get their music, movies, books (for those fortunate few who still read) and the rest of their entertainment online. In the wake of COVID, most of their learning, from first grade to college is online. Even their social lives are either online or heavily influenced by it. They spend almost all their time in front of some sort of screen.
The tendency of GenZ to share literally every part of their lives has certainly been leading to some interesting and in some cases troubling, developments. In the old days, a person who had issues with bullies in their lives could get away when they went home from work or school. Now, if they are on social media at all, they canât get away. The bully follows them everywhere. Sure, you can always just stay off of social media but since thatâs where everyone is, most will think leaving it would wind up being even worse.
Bullies aside, there is the problem of the unrealistic picture that a clever person can paint with social media. A little knowledge of lighting, camera angles and how to pick the right words can make an ordinary life look extraordinary. Instagram is a perfect example. Just because someone takes a picture of themselves putting up a board over a broken window doesnât prove they are doing anything to help. In fact, itâs pretty likely that it was just a photo-op and the board had already been up for hours if not days. There is even the phenomenon of Instagram couples, people who take pictures together for the purpose of getting more followers and likes but donât even talk in real life. The relationship someone might be envying is nothing more than a business partnership. Yet, many will compare their own lives to whatever they see online and find themselves feeling inadequate. This has led to massive increases in teenage depression and suicide. So what to do about it?
One big thing is that people need to stop associating their identities and worth with what they see online. A good portion of it is fake, and even if it isnât youâre mostly seeing the good stuff. Even a real Instagram couple has bad days. They just donât share them. Be careful who you associate too closely with online as well, there are too many people who seem to thrive on pushing othersâ buttons.
Also, direct your social media time to things you care about. Instead of what filter is popular on Snapchat taking up your time, you could learn about something, or work for a company or cause that you care about. Nature conservation, history, space explorations, there is a whole real world out there that the internet has made more accessible than ever.
TARTLE can help with that direction. Using our marketplace you can get your information protected and shared with whatever cause it is that most interests and concerns you. Start putting the internet to work for you. Instead of letting it dominate your life, you can use it as a tool to connect to the material world that exists outside of the digital. And with TARTLE you can work to make it better.
Whatâs your data worth? Sign up and join the TARTLE Marketplace with this link here.
