Have You Ever Wondered What Companies Do With Your Data?

Federicka
3 min readSep 23, 2019
Photo by NESA by Makers on Unsplash

The research questions that I decided to focus on states, “What do companies do with the private information they obtain from users on social media and other websites?”

The first scholarly article I found is titled, “The business of personal data: Google, Facebook and privacy issues in the EU and the USA,” written by Asunción Esteve, discusses what companies, such as Google and Facebook do with your personal data. Google and Facebook seem to be the most popular sites on the Web. The article states, “personal data has become a new source of economic value…people’s interest and activities, which is extremely useful for advertising” (Esteve 36). This shows that companies make money off your private data and use your private data for advertising. According to Esteve, Google tracks everyone’s information even though they do not have a Google account. The way that they get a hold of this information is by tracking user’s cookies and history from devices (Esteve 39). This goes to show that no matter who is using Google, whether they are a signed-up member, or not, Google will have ways to track your personal information to make profit off of your personal data.

This source is reliable because it is published in the “International Data Privacy Law (IDPL),”which is part of Oxford Academic. The IDPL is a peer reviewed journal that will publish articles on data protection and privacy laws from around the world (“International Data Privacy Law”). This source is credible due to all of the people who edit, and peer review the journal.

In my second article, “How and Why Businesses Collect Consumer Data”, written by Adam C. Uzialko in 2018, which discusses what companies will do with your data. Uzialko graduated from Rutgers University in 2014, he obtained a degree in Political Science and Journalism & Media Studies. Not only does he work with the Business News Daily and Business.com, he also freelances for different outlets. Between his works, he has written over a handful of articles on varieties of topics, including cybersecurity, philosophy’s of changing the internet, and monitoring software reviews. In his article, Uzialko stats that a website “will use location-based advertising, in which it connects the internet-connected device’s IP address to build a personalized data profile. This information is then used to target users’ devices with hyper-personalized, relevant advertising” (Uzialko). This shows that the reason why companies will use your location services is so they can create profiles and advertisements that best suit your standards, which you can interact with more. The article states, “In addition to collecting data, companies can also purchase it from or sell it to third-party sources” (Uzialko). Companies will sometimes sell and buy information to make a marketplace of their own to see what buyers most interested in.

This source is reliable because the author has experience in writing multiple articles in a variety of topics. The website, “Business News Daily,” helps small businesses grow, therefore, they are involved in other areas, rather than just news articles. The website is owned by business.com, which works with businesses and gives small businesses advice on how to be successful.

Esteve, Asunción. “The Business of Personal Data: Google, Facebook, and Privacy Issues in the EU and the USA.” International Data Privacy Law, vol. 7, no. 1, 2017, pp. 36–47. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/2056714384?accountid=14541,doi:http://dx.doi.org.mutex.gmu.edu/10.1093/idpl/ipw026.

“International Data Privacy Law.” Oxford Academic, 2019, https://academic.oup.com/idpl. Accessed 22 September 2019.

Uzialko, Adam C. “How and Why Businesses Collect Consumer Data.” Business News Daily, 3 August 2018, https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10625-businesses-collecting-data.html. Accessed 22 September 2019.

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