Checking up on app settings after an OS update, I opened the calendar app. I have never used the app. Just wanted to see if any changes to permissions and such had happened.
A notice popped up, that it was X number of days till Mom’s birthday. Information that I have never entered into any phone or social media. I do not subscribe to any social media. I have very little personal information available anywhere online. I have never entered her birthday information anywhere.
The number of days was correct. I do not go by her last name.
I proceeded to check the calendar reminders. There are none, zero. Her birthday is not entered in it. Or any other ones. I checked the calendar software on my PC. Not there either. Not in contacts information either.
Now I cannot make the notice appear again. The information is nowhere to be found. But it did appear that one time. Anyone know how that info got in there? Where it might be? Has this happened to others? Very weird.
You did something online. You might not remember. Anything you do online at any time is collected and shared with numerous companies. Those companies use that information to inform you about things - sales, birthdays, whatever.
It’s easiest to track these things down when they’re incorrect. Like, one time I checked something on my phone, and saw that it was mentioning that I was 15 minutes away from work. While I was at work. But I was about 15 minutes away from another location where I worked for several weeks. My phone noticed that every weekday, I was at a consistent time going to and from that same place during approximately normal work hours, and concluded that that was my place of work.
Maybe you entered it once, in the past, but not as a recurring reminder. The Google/Apple calendar may still make note of it, since birthdays are by definition recurring.
Been trying to remember any online occurrence of entering that information. Coming up blank. It isn’t something I would bother to set a reminder for, as other things trigger that reminder.
Still can’t find a lingering trace of it on the phone now.
I have a gmail account that I do not use. But many family members use that service. They also use Facebook. But I do not share a last name with any family members. If it is an instance of the massive data collection system piecing together things, it is creepy that it figured out the connections to me. It bothers me that it might be old “analog” data that has been mined and added to the pile. Or supposedly private secure data that has been hacked from an institution.
The way it popped up seemed odd too. Only when I checked on an app I never use. Then vanishes.
Did you ever buy your Mom a birthday present online? Ever use a wishlist that she might have connected to her birthday? Bought her a gift card for her birthday that might have been connected to the date (not necessarily by you)?
Is your moms birthday on her contact info with her phone number?
Have you entered it on any previous phones. many phones nowadays keep an online backup of contacts and such online via itunes or google drive. get a new phone and those contacts propagate to the new phone when you sign in.
This could be it. If your family members have shared their calendars with your gmail account (which covers all of Google) it will show up on your phone.
I assume you have an Android phone. If you have an iPhone it would be weirder.
Yes, it adds things to Google Maps too. For instance if I’ve booked a hotel or Airbnb, the location magically appears on my map along with the dates.
Birthdays usually get added via Facebook, as far as I can work out. Even if you don’t use FB, if your contact uses it and has listed their birthday then it finds its way through.
I supposed it was some sort of interlinked Google thing. I had hoped my minimal use of most online aspects had disconnected me more. As I mentioned I was looking through apps after an update, locking down permissions and such. Maybe the reminder has disappeared due to denying all of them.
Seems that even distant relationships invade your privacy in spite of your own attempts to maintain it.
I have nothing of personal interest to hide. But all this automatic sharing is getting to the point where others can know enough about you to make it hard to secure your institutional details. To be impersonated. Very annoying.
Maybe I am doing well at it. Seeing as it is the first time I have noticed it. But then again. Maybe I am blinded to it’s extent, due to blocking it. Disconnecting from seeing how connected I am.
Yes, yes. You might be amazed at what is collected about you and what is connected to other databases. And sometimes the info and collection is right; often, it is not.
Example: I use different names, some entirely made up. The other day, I got a phone call from one of those scam car warranty offers. Not unusual, but this one had connected my actual car model & year with one of my fake names, probably from an address match. And since I specified on my driver’s license that my address not be given to the public, and I told the auto dealer that no info should become public, where did they get any of this info?
Another example: Forty years ago I had a credit card stolen. The thief filed a change of address with the CC company (easier to do in those days), then charged a bunch of airline tickets. When the CC bill wasn’t paid, the CC company called me. It was easy to clear up, but the bogus address – a mail drop – still shows in my credit report as a past address. I guess if I felt a need to correct this, I could, but how often does this happen to someone who doesn’t check and/or doesn’t care?
Another: I see no reason to give out my true DOB or even Day-Of-Year to anyone who requests it unless it is critical. So I usually say I was born on January 1. Can you imagine how many birthday cards I get on New Year’s Day, many from people/sites I have never heard of?