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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 5 years ago

I sometimes search and post things on purpose to attract advertising so I can do research on companies.An extreme form of this is to buy stuff and having it be tracked via Credit Card purchases. You can usually return it and they don't seem to notice. https://t.co/rl7PYcMUfQ

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10/11/2020
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 5 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Does anyone know if companies a like stripe or square keep track of that kind of thing? I know they have inventory systems that they could harvest from.My gf bought some mushroom coffee from a farmer's market and started getting advertisements for a boutique brand.

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10/11/2020
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 5 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

It's possible she was getting recommendations because she's been tied to me as a friend, so it might be coincidence, or just from me looking up lion's mane and chaga coffee. https://t.co/EkgyjKO71Y

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10/11/2020
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 5 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Meta-data about who knows who is easily available to those real-time data broker ad based auction houses. No facebook social network required.https://t.co/M1dArJI0fn

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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 7 years ago

Address book stealing apps has been an issue since at least 2012https://t.co/vFIEjsQO3e

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10/11/2020
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 5 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

FWIW, most of those creepy "retargeted" ads are by google's ad tracking service. The website sets a flag and then asks google to to stalk you whenever you see a google ad. This has been a thing since 2010, and standard operating procedure AFAICT.https://t.co/IZnoyZWxN6

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10/11/2020
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 5 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Facebook lets you do similar. Basic idea is that you set this flag when someone adds stuff to their cart. They're trying to coax you back to the site to make the purchase.https://t.co/mX7Q9fJhHWI think this is a waste of money on top of being creepy af.https://t.co/vEiHq1vZcK

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UltimApe@ultimape• about 9 years ago

Why are shopping carts abandoned? Because online shopping is foraging game, but people don't want to actually buy. https://t.co/GVIyKxXWmo

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10/11/2020
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 5 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

This remarketing / retargeting tech doesn't actually need to know if you like boners or not, only that you went to a site that notified a service to coax you back.You can do this with twitter too. https://t.co/pUOJRat7EK

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10/11/2020
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 5 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Apple also lets you do this.https://t.co/Peh7vIZheCProbably every advertisement platform lets you follow people around and waste your money in an attempt to get people to impulse buy after they play your foraging game.https://t.co/mfWOKRLBuM

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UltimApe@ultimape• over 6 years ago

Apple isn't killing advertising, Apple is positioning themselves as a middleman between you and the advertisers by using the current zeitgeist as an excuse to lock down their customers data so that they can be the ones making money off of ads being shown to you.

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10/11/2020
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 5 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

I have an entire thread on a creative way to split your purchases up to fuck with data analytics platforms. It's way better than simple 'chaff & winnow' techniques because it tells alternate narratives instead of simply being noise.https://t.co/Glz3QCE2Wq

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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 8 years ago

How to troll a shopping center's data analytics.Buy innocent items that can be used to tell multiple narratives.

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10/11/2020
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 5 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Trick to doing market research with advertising is to reverse engineer plausible 'buyer personas' and guess at what kind of keywords they might be searching for.If you search them yourself, you may not get the same company, but will get competitors.https://t.co/WukuXi25ww

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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 7 years ago

Chrysler targeting millennials using tech+minivans you say?Who could have guessed that researching basal body temperature (and by association pregnancy associated circadian rythm function) would net a bunch of ads for mini-vans showing up everywhere.https://t.co/xQtaCQbwqI

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10/11/2020
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 5 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

More often than not, these competitors will be some company that just got a round of funding for "Growth" in a series B or later round (trying to 'scale' after 'nailing it').I keep tabs of who's doing this and laugh when they are left with poor returns. Chasing the dragon.

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10/11/2020
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 5 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Occasionally I spot companies that are genuinely a great idea. They end up being positioned in the market similarly to dollar-shave-club. I try to guess who'll buy them out once their brand hits mass appeal.

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10/11/2020
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UltimApe@ultimape• over 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

After reading this thread moments ago, I'm getting ads for PPC that is literally telling me about how your use of retargeting is likely a waste of money. #adnoyanceDo you think these sites don't use this method already? https://t.co/lsdCBMTwNf

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6/3/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• over 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Yah, mattresses ads don't work. But its b/c the market is saturated & people are bored of seeing every mattress under the sun being pushed thru marketing channels.Congratulations, on reading this twitter will think you are interested in mattresses.https://t.co/OWf1efKFEk

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UltimApe@ultimape• over 6 years ago

But unlike most matresses who are leveraging genuine innovation (being able to ship your matress is an innovation, in the sense that it undermines shipping logistics of older mattresses), Gravity isn't innovative: Its a brand trying to build a niche market with high margins.

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6/3/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

"These transactions have given rise to a complex data-selling ecosystem. At the heart of it are credit card processing networks, including Visa, American Express, and Mastercard, the latter of which took in $4.1 billion in 2019"https://t.co/MPGTImBbrahttps://t.co/e5B6goKTXx

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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 7 years ago

This isn't some fucking conspiracy either, they literally tell you the aggregation's they use! Its straight up on their website. It's the Credit Card company profiles that make all this spooky stuff happen.https://t.co/kxi0tDGtgu https://t.co/rM2kjxL96c

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9/21/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

"But while technology has served as a gateway for many, a lack of internet access, affordable tools and the know-how to use them has created a social digital divide. Closing that divide is a major priority of..." https://t.co/2uZOYYtDTAhttps://t.co/2AAHLTSqGD

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UltimApe@ultimape• over 4 years ago

I bet someone out there is writing a hand-wringing piece of how giving financial fairness to the unbanked is why we need to do mass-surveillance of the poor and disenfranchised minority groups is *FOR THEIR OWN GOOD*.propaganda.https://t.co/wl59IQvUYA

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9/21/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

You will be tracked. And you will like it.What are you, some kind of climate terrorist or something?https://t.co/TEFk22jMqXhttps://t.co/03KKkcsfzx

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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 7 years ago

Pay no attention to the multinational conglomerate behind the curtain. https://t.co/e3kmQ9dluo

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9/21/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Are you now or ever been involved with a climate terrorist?https://t.co/bqU2GAbnL0

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UltimApe@ultimape• over 4 years ago

As a test. I manually found every member of local church and school board/municipality using publicly posted youtube/zoom content.With face recognition tools, could be automated trivially.

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9/21/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

"The system is called "hotwatch" and it's basically a mechanism for law enforcement officials to track credit card purchases through a centralized system without a warrant. They just have to request the information, and voila." https://t.co/bJEHhJU4wh

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9/23/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

"The reality is far more complicated. In one sense, cardholders are safer from identity theft than ever before. At the same time, they’re now shopping in a panopticon, with companies tracking and analyzing their purchases in near real time."https://t.co/MPGTImjAzC

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9/23/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

"When a middleman becomes part of the process, that company often gets to learn about the transaction — and under our weak privacy laws has a lot of leeway to use that information as it sees fit."https://t.co/g43Ig9A9rl

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9/23/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

"But data brokers go about their business with little or no oversight. While there are laws on the books that protect the privacy of Americans’ health and financial information, they do not cover data brokers’ marketing activities."https://t.co/Ygwuqj5ti1 https://t.co/mxXrkDdG33

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9/23/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Track and Trace.https://t.co/7JlfFJdfIt

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UltimApe@ultimape• over 5 years ago

"and with social media and technology making easier to track our every move, we reveal insights into human behavior we never knew before.We capture every single transaction that every individual makes in every single store." [2013]https://t.co/0u8eHQVY5T

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9/23/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Purchase hotwatch. The shit I infer from fidget spinner sales data.https://t.co/3ZfcivEuMwhttps://t.co/6QEvmPhucU https://t.co/8dSfihs0uB

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UltimApe@ultimape• about 6 years ago

@RabbitBusiness @SniperZero Roughly speaking that map is also a map of internet connectivity penetration. But there are major city centers with high connectivity that don't show up. It's because of state regulations afaict. Fun: not violating 4th amendment if feds look into it, because it's not 'your data'.

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Inventory on file on cloud hosting providers.https://t.co/IUYwOFSMYS https://t.co/epU3OltN8t

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

"By buying data rather than obtaining it pursuant to a subpoena, warrant, or court order, federal agencies are circumventing the basic safeguard against abusive policing enshrined in the Fourth Amendment" https://t.co/rzL9Sr1pEm

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

"Even peer-to-peer exchanges that would be beyond oversight [...] become subject to precise scrutiny. In attempting to remove the third party (bank/government) from the exchange process, [...] enshrines the authority it attempts to displace."https://t.co/SU20ZvVu2y

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UltimApe@ultimape• over 6 years ago

"As a surveillance apparatus, it is difficult to imagine a more perfect way to monitor how citizens behave than to link transaction histories to the currency itself." https://t.co/1nwqV6btxt

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

"a somewhat evangelical cult, whose adherents make serious claims about techno-financial eschatology and believe that all of their (monetary) actions should be recorded with perfect fidelity forever so they get precisely the consequences they deserve." https://t.co/ogfnIte16r

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Kinda funny when you think about it.https://t.co/MvEbsxFUuS

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UltimApe@ultimape• over 4 years ago

"It was sort of the sense we were gonna change the world.We were gonna give people more control over their money. We had all these ideas about getting rid of central banks, and creating a new currency.We never quite got to the Bitcoin stage of it..."https://t.co/EeUJwsKJzl

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Think about it.https://t.co/svb3Gd6Z27

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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 5 years ago

Has anybody else noticed that Paypal is promoting promoting buying bitcoin, has a full suite banking service, loans, and a service that integrates consumer purchase tracking across the web?https://t.co/ThiohpcEVN

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

I remember hearing about crypto-backed credit cards on blab(dot)im (~2015). I think it was from up in Canada.That's what I've always wanted: a middleman tracking cryptocurrency spending. /sEverything old is new again https://t.co/v8iQEqDzBP https://t.co/ocHcjNfZzu

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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 9 years ago

Would you like to apply for the Walmart credit card, criminal scum?I used to be without a card like you, then i took an arrow to the knee.

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Introducing one tap payment with MasterCard PayPass!https://t.co/YNUnLl76VBGet yours today! Or in 2012 when it was introduced.https://t.co/6r0OJdA8D1

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UltimApe@ultimape• over 4 years ago

> Restoring Trust in Travel: Creating a Globally Accepted Health Pass> MastercardYou wat m8https://t.co/1ST431KfUt

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

"To be clear, this data is not of any individuals — it's anonymized and in aggregate — but the trend is unmistakable."https://t.co/ZXphB7WRY0

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Introducing one tap payment with Visa PayWAVE!https://t.co/INWJnH8UaIGet yours today! Or in 2010 when it was introduced.

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Visa can also see an 'unmistakable trend'"With more than $1 billion spent on crypto-linked Visa cards in the first half of 2021, it’s clear that the crypto community sees value in linking digital currencies to Visa’s global network."https://t.co/Oh18JIWzWm

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

I think it's funny that there's and uptick in people buying physical mechanical card readers and sending in credit transactions via mail.Does this mean I could technically do a crypto entirely via paper & post?https://t.co/hXvgqxRR64

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

"This broad acceptance is partly because most credit card issuers now operate under Visa [...] and MasterCard [...] These massive payment networks work out acceptance agreements with merchants so that issuers don’t have to do it individually."https://t.co/sIsDReKdSP

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

"you wouldn’t need cryptocurrencies if you had a digital U.S. currency" — Jerome Hayden Powellhttps://t.co/z8lewrtVqL🔜https://t.co/khJjweEhS5 https://t.co/huB1iz5L8x

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UltimApe@ultimape• over 4 years ago

State mandated digital ID wallets.https://t.co/VsbXnRNhfJ

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

I'm a good person, just look at my transaction history! I've got level 23 in brown-nosing, and 85 in state phallus idol worship.https://t.co/Jb2NpULpi9

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UltimApe@ultimape• about 5 years ago

I reached level 23 in alms yesterday. I installed a smart contract on my local net that instructs my agent to transmit 10% of my earnings to the charity wallet every time I sin.https://t.co/yeatRtmE9O https://t.co/dbrhaHTJVT https://t.co/Mvx86SaIzz

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

I swear Mr. PooPolice That wasn't my shit on the side of the road, someone stole my portable loo and dumped it to frame me so I couldn't get alms this month.https://t.co/0t0Q4g7y1g

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UltimApe@ultimape• over 5 years ago

I can imagine a 'social credit score' system incorporating stool samples. If your feces is found on the street, your score is docked & a penalty accrued on some nondescript public blockchain.This would be a very bad, inhumane treatment of people.DO NOT let this future happen.

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

"There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies..."https://t.co/VIkKvcfHYk

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

Is it a crime to shit on the sidewalk?https://t.co/rvyx09qU3t

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UltimApe@ultimape• over 4 years ago

"Roughly half of Americans (48%) say it is acceptable for DNA testing companies to share customers’ genetic data with law enforcement agencies to help solve crimes, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. "https://t.co/YTZ6NftcMn

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

I'm imagining a public blockchain that logs feces, and a private company can subscribe to it to decide if they are willing to do business with them. Not the kind of shitcoin we wanted, but the kind of shitcoin we deserve.https://t.co/LdkIjZMbKN

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UltimApe@ultimape• about 4 years ago

"Prey carcass removal and defecating outside the nest are important behaviours for maintaining nest cleanliness, which prevents attracting foreign organisms, such as scavengers and fungi."https://t.co/5AdxnKXZDk https://t.co/gc0a1YNWsf

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10/12/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

An observation I realized I hadn't expressed before: if a private company starts pushing for more growth, the fact that they are spending more time on growth is usually a direct result of a recent boost in their subscriber numbers. https://t.co/HVXgD0dlKM

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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago

Gonna start pretending I own a company and honey pot cold-calls to do market research.If a data enrichment platform somehow thinks I'm a CTO in a startup... 😇😈https://t.co/6Xq7eReRKO

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11/24/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

This means you can make educated guesses based on how good their sales funnel is and their success on platforms like product hunt. How a company choose to spend these resources can give you insight into their strategy.

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11/24/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

This tends to only work for SMB, not SME. Tho you can see something similar depending on the corporate structure in the larger firms. Divisions that have success in one quarter tend to get more budget the next.

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11/24/2021
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UltimApe@ultimape• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @ultimape

The nice thing about SMBs and startups in general is that they all tend to be smaller, so the space of possible team structures is easier to guess. The larger ones need more sleuthing to explore longer time trends in how they developed over time.

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11/24/2021