this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2026
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2 North American 4 You
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You think this only happens in north america?
I'm pretty sure that would be illegal in the EU at least, as your living circumstances qualify as personal data.
And the whole idea (and OPs indifference to it) is just such an ultra-capitalist thing that it is hard to imagine happening anywhere else than in the US.
(ok, so not everywhere in North America, but that's true for most posts here)
It’s absolutely legal for a power company to know where their services are delivered, lol. Pretty sure they at the minimum absolutely need to know the connection ID that would uniquely identify your house and apartment. Not so sure that a generic info like rooms and square footage would even be considered personal data.
Also, based on the other thread I think you would have an aneurysm if you knew how much info is publicly available in Sweden.
Would have guessed it to be similar to Germany, but Germans are often... special... in that regard.
And l just remembered we have our own private nightmare data gatherer here in Germany, too.
It is called "Schufa" and basically every financial institution, online seller or insurance company transmits them your financial behaviour to be centrally evaluated to generate a credit score.
Still can't comprehend how this is legal to exist...