Television
newsmagazine 60 Minutes aired a segment about online data
brokers. There's a concern that no one really knows exactly how many companies
are tracking online users or to what extent. However, there's a
belief among industry watchdogs that enough information is collected to
accurately build our individual profiles, including things such our race,
religious view, political affiliations, family medical history, if we've had
STDs, and the list goes on an on. The information is then churned into lists
that are for sale: lists containing the names of gays and lesbians, people
who have bipolar disorder, and those who have gambling, sexual and alcohol
addictions. One company, for example, has 1,500 pieces of information
about 200 million Americans.
The American government acknowledges there is
virtually no oversight of data brokers. One Senator has proposed a bill to
introduce regulation but says it's being stonewalled by the big 3 U.S. data
broker companies. The CEO of one of them told 60 Minutes that the industry is capable of self-regulating, yet says he
doesn't go online and share his personal information. He says consumers ought to know the internet is an "advertising medium."
Hmmm. He also adds regulating the data brokers would "cripple" the
economy.
It's a very interesting segment. Even better is the extra
clip called "How to Defend Your Privacy." It's definitely worth 6
minutes of your time.
The Data Brokers: Selling your information (the main segment)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.