Winter is Slowly Coming for Data Brokers
Facebook has (rightfully) been raked through the coals over the last year plus for its handling of privacy issues. The company has given away its users’ data to “partners” and advertisers like Oprah hands out cars to her audience members. Don’t let Mark’s new “privacy-focused vision for social networking” fool you.
Like it or not though, we the users (for the most part) willingly turned over our personal data to Facebook from the jump. From providing bio and contact information to fill out a profile to liking the “Bernie for President” page to sharing that cute dog video, we told Facebook anything and everything about ourselves. Shame on Facebook for exploiting this, but also shame on all of us for sharing our information without asking questions in the first place.
And while most of the privacy ire has been focused on Facebook and other household names like Google and Amazon, there is an entire industry that frighteningly remains unknown to a majority of the population that has just as much (if not more) information about us — and this time we didn’t willingly hand it over.
Fast Company recently published an article that examines the world of data brokers, breaking down the players, regulations and what consumers can do to attempt to protect themselves. And while collecting consumer data isn’t anything new, it’s easier to gather and there’s more of it available than ever before. Think about this:
“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. (Browser cookies and trackers are a major part of this infrastructure, and like many websites, Fast Company’s site relies on them in order to serve content and ads.)”
That is an ungodly amount of information to have amassed. While companies collecting some information about their consumers does make sense, having each piece aggregated into a deep, deep profile of an individual isn’t what any of us thought we were signing up for with the internet.
We’re just at the start of a consumer awaking with regard to personal information and its usage. It’s imperative for companies to review their data collection policies and make sure they’re only asking for user information that they absolutely need and either eliminate the practice of sharing/selling that information or make it abundantly clear just who they’re giving your information to. As more people come to grips with this issue, companies and corporations need to be prepared to deal with the coming consumer backlash and following PR nightmares.
