2S week 8-9 assignment CP
Research Assignment: Data Brokers
A Data Broker is a business that aggregates information from a variety of sources; processes it to enrich, cleanse or analyze it; and licenses it to other organizations. Data brokers can also license another company’s data directly, or process another organization’s data to provide them with enhanced results. Data is typically accessed via an application programming interface (API), and frequently involves subscription type contracts. Data typically is not “sold” (i.e., its ownership transferred), but rather it is licensed for particular or limited uses.
What they are and what they know
You’ve probably never heard of many of the data firms known as data brokers, but they’ve heard a lot about you.
It’s no secret that your personal data is routinely bought and sold by dozens, possibly hundreds, of companies. What’s less known is who those companies are, and what exactly they do.
By buying or licensing data or scraping public records, third-party data companies can assemble thousands of attributes each for billions of people. For decades, companies could buy up lists of magazines subscribers to build targeted advertising audiences. These days, if you use a smartphone or a credit card, it’s not difficult for a company to determine if you’ve just gone through a break-up, if you’re pregnant or trying to lose weight, whether you’re an extrovert, what medicine you take, where you’ve been, and even how you swipe and tap on your smartphone.
In 2017, data giant Acxiom provided up to 3,000 attributes on 700 million people. In 2018, the number was 10,000, on 2.5 billion consumers. All that information can be used to create profiles of you—think of them as virtual, possibly erroneous versions of you—that can be used to target you with ads, classify the riskiness of your lifestyle, or help determine your eligibility for a job. Like the companies themselves, the risks can be hard to see. Apart from the dangers of merely collecting and storing all that data, detailed (and often erroneous) consumer profiles can lead to race or income-based discrimination, in a high-tech version of discrimination.
Assignment Questions:
1) Select THREE data brokers companies from the list mentioned in the articles you have read and search for information on those companies. Report on the type of information you found.
2) How do data brokers collect your data?
3) Have you ever considered how you might be tracked? Does it bother you?
4) In what ways are you able to keep your private information "private"? Explain your answer.
Reference links:
Here are the data brokers quietly buying and selling your personal information
What Are 'Data Brokers,' and Why Are They Scooping Up Information About You?
Everything We Know About What Data Brokers Know About You
https://www.propublica.org/article/everything-we-know-about-what-data-brokers-know-about-you