What your zip code says about you, indeed; a map to play with, and ponder

What Esri thinks of the zip code 44103, in Cleveland

Sorry, but I'm about to waste the next 20 or so minutes of your day. Click on over to ESRI's website and look up your zip code. Or anyone's zip code. And you'll see precisely the kind of people who live in that place.

Esri is the big Geographic Information System company -- they track all kinds of essential data, by geography, enabling all kinds of engineering magic, such as automated wildfire mapping apps. To give folks an idea about how Big Data views them, Esri has made this incredible map public. Using some 67 different labels/groups, the map indicates precisely the mixture of folks who live in each area. My old home zip code is a mixture of Green Acres, Savvy Suburbanites, and Boomburgs, for example. You can understand why marketers devoour such information. Mind you, these aren't merely labels: they are deep narratives, full of solid advertising hints. For example, Savvy Suburbanites are defined like this:

"We're empty nesters or empty-nester wannabes who still have adult children living at home in established, owner occupied suburban neighborhoods. We're well-educated, well-read, and well-capitalized. We research products prior to purchase, and seek quality instead of price. Technology is used for everything including communicating, shopping, banking, and staying current on the news. Even though we're financially secure, we use a variety of resources for informed investing. We're not afraid of debt and may carry first and second mortgages and a line of credit. Late-model SUVs, station wagons, and minivans may be in our driveways. We're foodies and enjoy cooking; natural or organic products are preferred. We exercise, and buy top-of-the-line gear for golf and skiing. Good food and wine and cultural events are also not to be missed."

I have some more thoughts about this...but if you really must go play with this map, please do. I'll be here when you come back.

OK, you're back. Exhausted? Alarmed? So we've known about this kind of segmentation for some time. It's always illuminating to get a chance to look under the hood at Big Data and see what it is saying about you. In fact, that's probably essential for navigating today's digital world. Mistakes in Big Data can severely impact your ability to get credit, or get a job.

The Federal Trade Commission published an important report on this kind of data collection earlier this year that no one read because folks were focused on Ed Snowden. Here's how I covered the report

How do you think the big computers in the sky see you? Are you “Rural Everlasting” or a “Mobile Mixer?” Are you a “Married Sophisticate,” a “Senior Product Buyer,” a “dog owner,” and “winter activity enthusiast,” “Bible Lifestyle” or an “Affluent Baby Boomer?” Maybe you are “Financially Challenged,” or “Plus size apparel,” or maybe “Exercise- spotty living.” Heaven forbid, you might be have a “Diabetes Interest,” or a “Cholesterol Focus.”

Data brokers with names you’ve never heard have decided which of these categories you fit into, and they use that information for everything from targeted online ads to denying purchases over fraud concerns to helping suspicious relatives check up on you.

Esri has done what the FTC could not do: It made a toy! A toy that's fun to play with! Toys are much sexier than serious reports. And that toy demonstrates the creepiness level of the segmentation.

Of course, you won't see anything in the Esri toy like "African-American community - avoid" or "Rural hicks -- don't hire." And there's no reason to believe the individuals who collect and categorize the data are inherently biased. But naturally, such things can be easily inferred. If you were looking at two job applicants and one was an "urban scrambler" while the other was a "savvy suburbanite," which would you hire? The Fair Credit Reporting Act says it would be illegal to use data like this for hiring decisions, unless all companies involved accept the strict rules that come along with FCRA data use. Naturally, that happens all the time anyway.

It's a mistake to assume that data is, by definition, neutral. And it's a mistake to see market segmentation as a toy. It's serious business. Thanks, Esri, for the powerful demonstration. And thanks, Atlantic and Adrienne LaFrance, for being the first to call out the tool.

There are nearly endless companies that gather and process information about you. You don't know who they are, you don't know what they know, and you have to worry if some mistake in their data might severely impact your life or your family. That's enough to make you feel Restless, and that's why I'm collecting these stories in The Restless Project.

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