It seems to me that some of what WSJ shows here goes against RapLeaf's privacy policy.<p>Specifically:
"We don't collect or work with sensitive data on children, health or medical conditions, sexual preferences, financial account information, or religious beliefs."<p>The WSJ article shows that they are collecting religious beliefs, income, children, and detailed data on how you spend your money.<p>Seems to me that they are violating this both in spirit and in specific wording.
> The Wall Street Journal was able to decode 26 of them.<p>It's not like it's a secret or anything. They act like this chart is something they've discovered.
You can opt out and see what info RapLeaf has on you here: <a href="https://www.rapleaf.com/people" rel="nofollow">https://www.rapleaf.com/people</a><p>I'm amazed, but not necessarily surprised, that they could pin down my income level, location, age, etc. from just my email address.
At least RapLeaf is open enough to show this chart. You can edit your data, and opt out. Far from a perfect system, but let's be practical: nearly every other advertising system is doing exactly the same thing, just without telling you what they have. Some sort of an open advertising cookie seems like a good idea to me. Something that people can customise so that they'll see advertisements somewhat interesting to them.