Sad news - Coinbase is leaking your information

[s92225]

Coinbase is sharing information about your account with third parties, which may include information such as: how often you open the app, which devices you open it from, and what the IP address of those devices is. Absolutely unacceptable behavior.

Source: NY times https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/business/secret-consumer-score-access.html

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[hello_good_sir]

It's not surprising that Coinbase would be involved in these sort of services, and they are one of the companies that are all about the bottom line, and maximizing their profits, even at the cost of the customer if it's necessary.

Some of this is unnerving though, I can't believe they would give these "credit check" companies this much information about their customers, but to be honest, I don't think any of them would bother with doing verification themselves, it'll be much too expensive and this is likely why they are working with all of these obscure companies.

[Initscri]

It's not surprising that Coinbase would be involved in these sort of services, and they are one of the companies that are all about the bottom line, and maximizing their profits, even at the cost of the customer if it's necessary.

Some of this is unnerving though, I can't believe they would give these "credit check" companies this much information about their customers, but to be honest, I don't think any of them would bother with doing verification themselves, it'll be much too expensive and this is likely why they are working with all of these obscure companies.

Tbh, I get that, but I'm surprised they didn't factor in cost–benefit analysis of the risk of the public becoming vaguely aware of the information being sold.

I mean, this isn't exactly the best industry to try to pull something like that in.

[Darooghe]

Old news, but If you think Coinbase and Facebook are the only ones doing this, sadly, you’re mistaken. They’re just the only ones in the news. It would not surprise me at all if Google, Amazon, Twitter, or any large corporation does the exact same things.

However, It's not okay that they passed the information to 3rd parties. Won't use it anymore, even though it doesn't matter already. So do they do the same with personal info? personally, i don’t see the big deal as long as that information is in no way directly related to personal identifiable information. sharing information, for example, about how often an app is opened on average across thousands of users for trend analysis info, it's no big deal. as long as no personal information is shared I have no problem.

[s92225]

Will other exchanges follow their leads? @OKEX

[meanwords]

This is one of the reason why DEX will be the thing in the near future. I'm sure Coinbase is not the only exchange that do this. I think almost all centralized exchange are doing this too. It's kind of sad but if they benefit or profit from doing this, then it will not stop at all. The only way for people to avoid this is to use decentralized exchanges.

[bounceback]

Coinbase is sharing information about your account with third parties, which may include information such as: how often you open the app, which devices you open it from, and what the IP address of those devices is. Absolutely unacceptable behavior.

I think it's natural for Coinbase to divulge our information to third parties and that is one of the characteristics of Coinbase as before, today we have found many other applications or sites that also track IP addresses or track our handheld devices, even if they make decisions like that, but currently there are no coinbase users who make them lose or have their data misused by that party.

[Kyraishi]

Will other exchanges follow their leads? @OKEX

I don't think so - it only seems like Coinbase is one of the companies that leaks user data more than the other ones, most other exchanges don't do this on purchase as Coinbase, and are happy with how much they make off their users, unlike...

I wonder how much companies like Coinbase actually make off this, going by what Facebook does, I'm assuming it's worth a pretty penny per user, just would like to know how much..

[Google+]

I think this has become a habit of a place of exchange that always tries to do that, he tries to make money for his platform too so that it can make the platform good, there are many other places of exchange like that, it's just that it's not so exposed that few people know about it.

[Little Mouse]

More or less, every big giants are doing these and that's why I never supported any KYC formation. Regading coinbase, I think it was long before I have read one news where they wrote Coinbase is leaking personal information of their clients.

[franky1]

this is not new
even before the 'internt bubble' companies were sharing information

did you know your employer shares your information with other companies. such has how many repremands/promotions/payrises you had in work,whether you file grievances with other staff/management. your salary and your education/skills
(if a company has a professional HR department. expect your employment info to be shared)

this is because for a company to check someones cv/resume is accurate involves paying a college/university examination group an admin fee to verify you did actually get the results. this ends up with costing a company multiple fee's for multiple qualifications a potential employment interviewee may have. companies started to centralise that information and charge a lesser fee and made it faster and cheaper for other companies to find out if your information is accurate
(new employer asks old employer how accurate/truthful skills listed are, evolves into a business of its own buying and selling that info)

people thought pre millenium that only 'credit scores' contained details of their creditcard or mortgage details.. but now they find out phone companies, and contracted subscription services sell their information to credit report companies about if someone makes their regular payments, which affects your credit score too.

these days even landlords share info about their tennants

again even before the millenium retail stores and grocery stores that do 'loyalty schemes' would use and sell that info
so all this stuff aint new.. its been going on for the entire 'retail/goods and services' era of like the 1990's onwards
thanks to the internet making it easier to share info, rather than needing paper records and phone calls for references/checks

and so as the article says. even apple/google/facebook sells info about what apps people download and use and how often. we kinda accepted and knew that one as they didnt really hide it .. s we should all just accept if you do anything online expect it to be passed around

and yes its not just 'metadata' like a score. they actually keep the detailed stuff that the assumed score is based on

one last thing.
in the UK even the government share info. i know this because when moving to a new location and not even building up much of a 'consumer map' of what i do from my new location. i start getting junk mail directly linked to stuff that was information i could only assume was from the government. simply because on a certain form i mis-spelled my name. and suddenly junk mail was appearing addressed to the mis-spelled name

[XCANA]

For those who are fond of doing KYC just because they want to get some few dollars from an ambiguous exchange. Am always cautions of my identity online and not to expose myself. We  must be cautions of these exchanges that are been use by government agencies to get investors data. The last thing I will do to get few dollars is KYC.

[CryptoBry]

Coinbase is sharing information about your account with third parties, which may include information such as: how often you open the app, which devices you open it from, and what the IP address of those devices is. Absolutely unacceptable behavior.

This is a big problem affecting many big companies and their shady treatment and management of the customers' data. Soon, there will be many laws that will address this big concern. In Europe, they already have that famous General Data Protection Regulation which started to take effect last year. Hopefully, USA will have its own version too that can essentially limit what companies can keep and what they can do with the data from the people they served or have contact with.

Coinbase is just one of the many who are exposing the data they gathered to other third-party platforms for commercial or non-commercial purposes. I am sure that other cryptocurrency-related platforms are also guilty of this same malady and this has to stop now. Maybe there is a need to sign a petition for Coinbase on this so they get aware that we are watching what they are doing and that we demand better way of data management on their side.

[Slow death]

Coinbase is sharing information about your account with third parties, which may include information such as: how often you open the app, which devices you open it from, and what the IP address of those devices is. Absolutely unacceptable behavior.

Source: NY times https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/business/secret-consumer-score-access.html

I thought that only they would provide data to governments only if the transactions were of high monetary value, but watching everything you do is unacceptable. This means that the person does not have any privacy. Can't people go complain in court? because it violates people's fundamental freedoms

[Eugenar]

For those who are fond of doing KYC just because they want to get some few dollars from an ambiguous exchange. Am always cautions of my identity online and not to expose myself. We  must be cautions of these exchanges that are been use by government agencies to get investors data. The last thing I will do to get few dollars is KYC.

Even reputable exchanges and online platforms cannot be trusted now as what Coinbase is doing. Let say, if we are usually submitting KYC to various projects and Coinbase did this, how could we even trust those projects that are just beginning in the market? Well, it is better not to trust these since there are also decentralized projects that operate even without the need of KYC.

For more information about Exchanges that do not require KYC, Refer to this article:
https://beincrypto.com/top-cryptocurrency-exchanges-no-kyc/

[jootn2kx]

Coinbase is sharing information about your account with third parties, which may include information such as: how often you open the app, which devices you open it from, and what the IP address of those devices is. Absolutely unacceptable behavior.

Source: NY times https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/business/secret-consumer-score-access.html

Not surprising, most companies do that. It is well known that even some VPNs, which are all about security, might sell your information to advertisers or the government. Especially free ones. Coinbase is primarily a company looking to make a profit, so they will sell whatever they can. Besides, i think that the SEC does require exchanges to provide information about their traders? That way, the authorities know how much you owe in taxes, right? So, with information about your financial situation being at their disposal, why wouldn't they also ask for your metadata and alike? The more info they gather on you, the better for them.

[inanilujimi]

as long as our assets remain safe there is not a big problem, even if our personal domain is captured, is that dangerous?
just keep thinking positive, maybe they want to keep our asset ownership safe from unwanted things.

[kaya11]

Coinbase is sharing information about your account with third parties, which may include information such as: how often you open the app, which devices you open it from, and what the IP address of those devices is. Absolutely unacceptable behavior.

Source: NY times https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/business/secret-consumer-score-access.html

I am not surprised at all, as long as they won't frame me for something serious then it is no big deal for me. I wondered at first when I tried to play videos on youtube and browse on google chromes that every ad they had is related to what is somehow I am currently interested at such as gadgets and machines that I needed in my business. Somehow I now understand why they know this stuffs, it is because some other sites that I have visited is keeping track of my searches and put in the ads, may in some exchanges they sold your infos and the companies do the advertisements.

[yoseph]

That's why it's always important to read the privacy policy of websites before we agree to them for all we know, our information which was supposed to be safe are being given out to who knows what but in the case of Coinbase I am sure that their customers agreed to it willingly and they can't be faulted if they didn't read their Privacy policy.

[blckhawk]

This is one of the most common online privacy issues that exists nowadays. They twist the words and agreement to get away with it, but all it means is that they'll sell you data to third party companies such as those for advertisements. It mainly is because of the greediness of the company owner/s to more profit, and would disregard proper company ethics in their decisions because they know they'll still get away with it.