I too declined on privacy grounds.

I think my account was active for 10 minutes when it got blocked due to "suspicious activity" and locked. All I have to do now to activate is give them more of my information including my phone number.

I've had this same exact thing happen with Facebook and Instgram too. Facebook was probably no less than 5 years ago so this is not new. You can usually confirm your identity (which they do not know), using your phone number (which they do not have). Read that again. :) They ALL do this.

The kicker is you will not find any sympathy because they start with jurisdictions (3rd world) where they can get away with it and people will lecture you about how you must have done something because Facebook never asked for their phone number or blocked them.

I had Airbnb ask for my passport 10 years ago ffs and I did give it and they still didn't want to give me the place until the proprietor intervened and sorted it out. I had the same exact helpful comments about it online that I described above. "You must have done something", "You're full of shit, they don't ask for passport at all".

This attitude by my "fellow men" is what bothers me most about this whole thing.

And now it's global, the same people will probably go "what do you have to hide", "you show your passport at the border don't you?".

dropped linkedin after ten years due to an id request.

hurts but if EVERYONE SAID NO it would be better tomorrow.

Sadly, LinkedIn has replaced email for initial contact after fairs or in-person client meetings. New real-world contacts look you up on LinkedIn and then use it to ask for things like your email address or mobile number. Because of this, I'm even verified :-(.

Even though I use LinkedIn basically the same way Internet Explorer was used in 2009 (purely as a Firefox or Chrome downloader but not for browsing). LinkedIn is my initial contact details exchange, but not the platform to communicate.

> Isn't that just all ai slop?

It is. I basically get zero useful input. Just biased, shallow rubbish. If there is valuable content it is usually cross-posted from authors who also run blogs I already follow.

Edit: Spelling, grammar, style

Once it's a human contact Ai slop doesn't impact you.

Previous article: https://thelocalstack.eu/posts/ai-chatbot-gdpr-data-request/

All from a single blog post:

> that’s not just text, that’s biometric data.

> This isn’t a chat log. It’s a structured psychological profile.

> Not raw conversations — processed insights about who I am, how I think, what I fear, and what motivates me.

> They’re not just storing what you said — they’re analyzing who you are.

> They’re not just answering questions — they’re building a map of what you’re curious about, what you’re planning, what you’re worried about.

> Not because I trusted it — but because it was convenient not to think about trust at all.

> A profile this detailed isn’t just a record. It’s a tool.

> The oracle isn’t neutral. The oracle is taking notes.

> Not because I’m paranoid — because it’s true.

> Do it. Not because you need to delete everything — but because you should know what “free” or even “paid” really costs.

While copying and pasting all of this I read this at the end:

> I need to be honest about something: I wrote this post with an AI. Not just edited by AI. Written with it.

Wouldn't fool anyone anyway