I have been using this strategy for years. I can't really tell if it works or not, but it makes logical sense.
One issue is that there's data about you that's not generated by you, but by people you know (i.e. John adds me as a contact into their phone along with my birthday and address, Jane friends me on VK and keeps tagging me in pictures that have location data, etc).
I suspect that right now, companies give higher importance to data that you've entered about yourself, but once they realize you're feeding them noise, they can adjust their algorithms to trust other people's data about you (if they're not already doing that), which would significantly decrease the effectiveness of feeding them noise about yourself.
It will still work for all data points about you that can't be collected from other people (like browsing habits, your phone's location, etc)
> they can adjust their algorithms to trust other people's data about you (if they're not already doing that), which would significantly decrease the effectiveness of feeding them noise about yourself.
Maybe some people can inject noise about their friends, instead.
For instance:
1. install the FB app on a phone with an address-book full of garbage and share it with the app,
2. inject fake geotag data in the photos you tag your friends in,
3. put the actual tag on strangers in the background,
4. tag your friends in stock photos, etc.
Some of these you obviously can't do with friends who don't consent, since they may get annoyed by all the fake tags, but others would be transparent to most social media users.
One issue is that there's data about you that's not generated by you, but by people you know (i.e. John adds me as a contact into their phone along with my birthday and address, Jane friends me on VK and keeps tagging me in pictures that have location data, etc).
I suspect that right now, companies give higher importance to data that you've entered about yourself, but once they realize you're feeding them noise, they can adjust their algorithms to trust other people's data about you (if they're not already doing that), which would significantly decrease the effectiveness of feeding them noise about yourself.
It will still work for all data points about you that can't be collected from other people (like browsing habits, your phone's location, etc)