• @[email protected]
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    4 months ago

    My email is whatever shit protonpass comes up with when I generate a random alias. Phone number is 3334445566 Name is: lol no Gender is undisclosed DoB is January 1st of the first year I can select. Otherwise, 1900 And income is 1.

    There, free WiFi.

    • @[email protected]
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      534 months ago

      That said…A wifi access point that requests that info is almost certainly not private for every other trackable thing you do with that wifi, however.

      • @[email protected]
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        244 months ago

        If it’s an open WiFi (no WPA password) packets are not encrypted anyway, so anyone on this AP can easily see everything that comes through it. A decade ago, when most websites allowed plain HTTP, there was a Firefox extension which let you hijack the Facebook or Twitter session of anyone connected to an open WiFi with a couple of clicks.

        Nowadays everything is hopefully encrypted at the application level, so while attackers can see where the data goes, they can’t actually read it.

      • JustEnoughDucks
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        54 months ago

        Everything you do on a public WiFi should be through a VPN anyway. Just in case you accidentally forget you are on it and log in somewhere.

    • @[email protected]
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      224 months ago

      I usually use:
      Email - [email protected]
      Name - Nah Nope
      Gender - prefer not to say
      DoB - same as you
      Phone - just random digits, or if I’m feeling spicy the phone number of a guy I used to be buddies with who fucked me over
      Income - never been asked for this yet, probably go with something outlandish…like 1

  • @[email protected]
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    654 months ago

    I went to a restaurant recently that asked me to pay my bill with the QR code on the tablet. Scanned it, and the first thing it did was ask for my phone number to verify my “account” by sending me a code.

    The server didn’t understand that I wasn’t going to do that, and they needed to run my credit card like normal or I wasn’t paying.

    • @recklessengagement
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      274 months ago

      Oh man. If I need to download an app to pay for a meal I’m never going back to that place again.

      • thermal_shock
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        64 months ago

        usually just the website, but yes, I agree.

    • @Rolando
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      134 months ago

      I’m like: “I only have a work phone, I can’t do things like that on it.”

        • thermal_shock
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          44 months ago

          I talked my way out of a parking ticket once. the machines were offline, and the only sticker for the app was knee level on the side. I argued a smart phone should not be a requirement to park your car here, meter cop tore the ticket up right then.

    • @DillyDaily
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      114 months ago

      That’s why in some ways I don’t mind that my country still pays for mobile data, because I just don’t even bother at restaurants anymore “oh, I’ve run out of data, I can’t scan that, here’s my money”

      Because of how severely covid lock downs hit our state, every single restaurant I’ve been to in the last 5 years has used a QR code to order and pay.

      I have allergies, so this means I mostly just order black coffee when it’s QR only.

      I’m not giving you all of my personal details for an overpriced $5 black coffee. The result is that I sit there with my friends, fiddling my thumbs, not buying anything.

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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      94 months ago

      But what’s the big deal? It’s just an account, sir. Everyone does it. It doesn’t mean anything.

      These are the thoughts of people who truly have no idea what’s going on in the world, and those people are abundant.

  • @[email protected]
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    404 months ago

    I’m often [email protected] with a name of admin admin, a birth date of 01/01/1970 a phone number of 4041234567 and address of 123 main street anytown, USA

    And then if they expect me to retrieve info from said email or phone number I simply move on

  • @edgemaster72
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    374 months ago

    Bro, just one more piece of info bro. Come on bro, just one more piece of your personal info and I’ll let you sign on to the “free” wifi. Bro come on bro, just one more piece of personal info, it’s no big deal for some wifi bro.

  • @Treczoks
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    324 months ago

    What would stop you from using random, invented data?

    • @Blue_Morpho
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      584 months ago

      Don’t use random, invented data. That’s wrong. Use the real data of a ceo or other executive from a company that spammed you. Or if you have the time find out who owns the mall and use their information.

      • Druid
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        144 months ago

        That’s so evil and so amazing

        • @Blue_Morpho
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          74 months ago

          I recently did something similar. My daughter’s orthodontist practice (it’s a large office with multiple locations) from a few years ago sent a spam txt message. I tracked down the owner of the practice and called the office, “I have a new phone number. Please change it on my records.”

          And gave the owner’s home number."

        • chingadera
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          64 months ago

          Sounds more like justice from down here.

      • @The_v
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        54 months ago

        Asshole ExBosses are totally fair after a mandatory 3 year cooling off period.

      • @Treczoks
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        34 months ago

        Even better. Though it takes some work to gather that data.

      • @subtext
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        4 months ago

        info@, postmaster@, web@, abuse@, or any other mandated valid email addresses for the service that wants your data.

        Any system that includes an SMTP server supporting mail relaying or delivery MUST support the reserved mailbox “postmaster” as a case-insensitive local name.

        https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5321

        • @Blue_Morpho
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          14 months ago

          That only gives extra work to IT who are powerless to do anything.

  • @norimee
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    274 months ago

    Rule of thumb on the Internet, if you can’t see how it’s payed for (subscriptions, ads, donations…) then you probably pay with your personal data.

    Especially true for apps and games. “Play totally free, no annoying adds or in-app purchases” means “Here is a trojan horse pretending to be a game while farming every possible information from your device to sell to the highest bidder”.

    • @[email protected]
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      114 months ago

      Small shout out to Apple here, perhaps, for their little privacy report card. Here is Angry Birds 2:

      A transcription app by a cool solo dev:

      Y’all trust these?

      • LostXOR
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        24 months ago

        As I understand it Apple is fairly good privacy-wise (at least compared to others). I wouldn’t 100% trust those cards, but I’m guessing they’re pretty accurate.

  • @Etterra
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    244 months ago

    Email: [email protected] Address: 123 Main St Phone: 555-555-5555 DoB: 01/01/2000 Gender: other (all) Income: $3.50

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️
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    4 months ago

    That’s when I use the oldest human invention: LYING.

    Fake email, fake address, tell them I make more than the highest option they give for the income, make up the entirely unique gender of squorp, etc.

    • @MattMatt
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      64 months ago

      They don’t care. They’re just turning around and repeating your lies to whatever advertiser is so stupid as to believe their demographic sales pitch.

      Hurt them by not using it. That’s the biggest number that feeds their machine.

      • @[email protected]
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        44 months ago

        There’s something to be said for poisoning the data. Intentionally, and consistently, enter slightly wrong information into every form you can. If it leaks, it all corroborates, but with other wrong information.

        It’s definitely easier and more reliable to just pass tho.

      • Prison Mike
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        24 months ago

        I think if you lie and use a VPN there might be less data for them to profit from.

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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      54 months ago

      I’m pretty sure hitting someone with a rock pre-dates lying. Try that instead next time.

  • @over_clox
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    4 months ago

    Walmart does similar now, though they don’t ask all that much. The bogus account I set up is…

    Email: [email protected]

    Password: Walmart1

    Name: Anonymous Human

    Enjoy your anonymous free WiFi at Walmart haha!

      • @[email protected]
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        4 months ago

        But the trick with these is, in order to check email they need to connect you to the internet, even if just for a minute. If you just need the internet to sync the latest IMs and emails, that is good enough.

  • @[email protected]
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    4 months ago

    Here’s a secret those free wifi providers don’t want you to know: usually, they don’t check your email or ask you to verify it, so you can just enter [email protected] If they do show a second screen asking for an email, just create a tempmail adress on cellular and switch back to verify. It works 99.99% of the time.

    Edit: you also don’t have to enter any real personal information, how would they know?

    • @EnderMB
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      124 months ago

      I always use famous people, just in case someone is checking the data and assumes that Tom Cruise or Sydney Sweeney decided to stop in Cambridge for a quick bite to eat in Nandos before staying in the Travelodge.

    • Prison Mike
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      4 months ago

      This is a beautifully simple solution! I hadn’t thought of that but I’ll have to keep it in mind.

      Do you think you’d have to move closer to another AP? I do think a duplicate a MAC address might cause connectivity problems at least while connected to the same AP.

  • @duckduckohno
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    154 months ago

    I’ve never given a real email to these. I just bash the keys on my phones with random letters and decide whether it’s going to be gmail, aol, or yahoo that day…

  • HubertManne
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    144 months ago

    Oh, it’s not a swindle. What you do is, see, you give 'em all your credit card numbers, and if one of them is lucky, they’ll send you a prize!