Brokers use ‘billions’ of data points to profile Americans

The internet has caused a dramatic expansion in individual data; one broker, Acxiom, claims to have files on 10% of the world's population,[1] with about 1500 pieces of information per consumer.[2] Individuals generally cannot find out what data a broker holds on them, how a broker got it, or how it is used.[3]

A growing number of “data brokers” are raking in profits by scouring through the Internet to build profiles of consumers.

By looking at purchasing histories, social media pages and more, the brokers can piece together pictures of individual consumers that can help companies target their advertising with great precision.
Privacy advocates fear the information could be used for more nefarious ends, and the industry has caught the attention of federal regulators.

By looking at purchasing histories, social media pages and more, the brokers can piece together pictures of individual consumers that can help companies target their advertising with great precision.
Privacy advocates fear the information could be used for more nefarious ends, and the industry has caught the attention of federal regulators. Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

Data brokers Industry
All this information and much, much more is being quietly collected, analyzed and distributed by the nation’s burgeoning data-broker industry, which uses billions of individual data points to produce detailed portraits of virtually every American consumer, the Federal Trade Commission reported
Data brokers’ portraits feature traditional demographics such as age, race and income, as well as political leanings, religious affiliations, Social Security numbers, gun-ownership records, favored movie genres and gambling preferences (casino or state lottery?). Interest in health issues — such as diabetes, HIV infection and depression — can be tracked as well.

With potentially thousands of fields, data brokers segment consumers into dozens of categories such as “Bible Lifestyle,” “Affluent Baby Boomer” or “Biker/Hell’s Angels,” the report said. One category, called “Rural Everlasting,” describes older people with “low educational attainment and low net worths.” Another, “Urban Scramble,” includes concentrations of Latinos and African Americans with low incomes. One company had a field to track buyers of “Novelty Elvis” items.

Meet the Data Brokers Who Help Corporations Sell Your Digital Life

Companies that sell similar info: Datalogix, Acxiom, Epsilon, BlueKai, V12 Group

FTC Recommends Congress Require the Data Broker Industry to be More Transparent and Give Consumers Greater Control Over Their Personal Information

A Review of the Data Broker Industry

The reports from the FTC and the Senate Commerce Committee both said data brokers group consumers together into categories for the use of marketers.

The companies build the profiles based on publicly available information on social media platforms, retailers’ records of offline and online purchases made with credit and debit cards and information that consumers volunteer online, such as online surveys, warranty forms and sweepstakes entries.

"The companies collect and sell information about consumer’s race, religion and ethnicity, which “would raise red flags for most people..."

The report skims over one of the major problems of data brokers—the risk of a data breach that could expose all this data—in spite of the fact that less than a decade ago the FTC fined ChoicePoint $15 million for selling personal data to thieves.

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