Thirty-one theses on dating capitalism
19 / 31
PART TWO — THE GRID
I
Revenue up, payers down
II
Success ends subscriptions
III
Manufactured scarcity
IV
One owner, many brands
Hidden ranking, patented swipe
VI
Volume produces refusal
VII
The app is the destination
VIII
Demographic pricing
IX
Fabricated interest
X
Safety became an upgrade
XI
Intentionality drives growth
XII
Queer platforms consolidated
XIII
Contraction intensifies extraction
XIV
Free users are inventory
XV
Global risk, concentrated revenue
XVI
Health data as telemetry
XVII
Data as national security
XVIII
Membership reveals identity
XIX
Identification without breach
XX
Profiles sold as commodities
XXI
The platform remembers more
XXII
Community versus its workers
XXIII
Extraction is optional
XXIV
Refusal is not innocence
XXV
The grid is optional
XXVI
Filtering is not sorting
XXVII
The applications work
XXVIII
Lifeline and trap
XXIX
Loneliness is the market
XXX
Companionship without reciprocity
XXXI
Named, not stopped
THESIS XIX
PART TWO — THE GRID
A man was identified using data that nobody had to steal.
No breach was required. The signals were commercially available.
In July 2021 the Catholic outlet The Pillar reported that commercially available app signal data showed a device correlated to Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill emitting Grindr signals on a near-daily basis through parts of 2018, 2019 and 2020, at his office, his residence and at conference events. He resigned as general secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Grindr denied being the source and called the report a homophobic witch hunt. The data was purchased on the open market, which is the point: no breach occurred, and none was necessary.
EVIDENCE SNAPSHOT
2018–20
PERIOD
Period covered by the commercially sourced signals
App signals
DATA
Mobile-app activity purchased through the commercial market
3 settings
LOCATIONS
Work, home and event locations were correlated
None
BREACH
No breach of Grindr’s database was required
KEY FINDING
In July 2021 the Catholic outlet The Pillar reported that commercially available app signal data showed a device correlated to Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill emitting Grindr signals on a near-daily basis through parts of 2018, 2019 and 2020, at his office, his residence and at conference events.
IMPLICATION
Commercial data can enable identification without a visible platform breach.
Source apparatus
SOURCE 01
|
INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
O'Brien, M., & Bajak, F. (2021, July 22). Priest outed via Grindr app highlights rampant data tracking. Associated Press.