Overview
It’s
almost impossible to use the internet anymore without seeing an ad targeted to
your specific interests and recent searches. This is largely because of the
massive and incredibly lucrative data brokerage industry. Data brokers are
entities that “park” themselves on websites to gather and sell information
about what you search for online, what web pages you visit, your activity on
social media, and just about everything else you do online that could be useful
for marketing. There are thousands of brokers gathering and using this
information, and the average consumer would have no idea it’s happening. It’s
an industry with little transparency and very little regulation. As you use the
internet these mysterious entities are able to gather just about every piece of
information about you, from your age to more intimate details, like sexual
orientation and medical conditions. They can even use computer algorithms to predict other details about an individual's personal life. (1)
Concerns about Data
Brokers
The
data brokerage industry is incredibly secretive. In 2016, Newsweek requested
interviews from representatives in dozens of companies and were only granted
permission by one, a large and successful broker called Acxiom. This lack of transparency combined with an absence of any real regulations creates great cause for concern. Newsweek also states in its article
that information gathered by data brokers can be used to create “consumer
scores.” These scores can predict how likely someone is to get sick or pay off
a debt. It’s possible that an insurance company could use this information to
charge more to someone whose consumer report says they’re likely to develop a chronic
illness, or that a college would deny admission to a student because the
family’s report says they can’t pay for four years of tuition. The major flaw
with a consumer score is that it’s nearly impossible to correct flawed
information collected by brokers. From the Acxiom data that was analyzed, only
about half of it was correct. These are life changing decisions that are possibly relying
on a consumer score that is based on only 50% correct data. Additionally, there is the potential for harmful data being purchased by those with nefarious
intentions. A few years ago, InfoUSA (another large broker) sold a list of
19,000 elderly people to a group of scam artists. Every individual on the list had participated
in some sort of sweepstakes. This behavior was associated by the scammers with gullibility,
giving them a long list of easy targets. (2)
My Opinion
In
my opinion, data brokers absolutely need to be regulated. In September, 2017
the Data Broker Accountability and Transparency Act of 2017 was introduced in
the Senate. This bill would keep data brokers from obtaining data in any manner
that would be considered fraudulent, force them to establish procedures to
ensure accuracy of information, including allowing individuals to request
corrections, and make it possible for individuals to prevent their information
from being used or distributed in any way, if they wish. (3) I believe that these
three regulations are necessary, along with increased transparency
concerning how information is distributed and what it is to be used for.
Relevant Links
- https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/07/11/485571291/firms-are-buying-sharing-your-online-info-what-can-you-do-about-it
- http://www.newsweek.com/secretive-world-selling-data-about-you-464789
- https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1815
I agree with Garet and his suggestion that data brokers need regulation. Without regulation, it almost seems like data brokers act as pseudo-stalkers, people who gather vast amounts of information about an individual to the point that they can literally predict that individual's likelihood of purchasing a product or falling for a scam. The collection of data itself is problematic, but to me the lack of consent required to collect this data is even more problematic. I also worry about how the data brokers differentiate between minors and adults, and if data collection/data selling on this scale is allowed for use on minors. Ironically, Acxciom, one of the data brokers, has set up a website where people can check the information stored by Acxiom about them. However, it requires users to create an account and verify the information using the last four digits of their social security number. Although the information is likely already known (which is why they can use it for verification), I do find it interesting that you MUST give up information about yourself if you would like to know what information the company already has.
ReplyDeleteAndrew: Good point about the irony that you must supply personal information about yourself to Acxiom before Acxiom will share what information they have about you. And, as we will see in class on Wednesday, Acxiom is not that forthcoming in disclosing what detailed info they have collected on you.
DeleteYou see my main concern in the first place is the fact that they are even allowed to record the information I look up. Something makes me feel really uneasy with the fact that someone can find out exactly where I've been and what I've done on the web. I feel like this shouldn't be data that can be collected because of the fact that you can find out so much about someone like you were saying. I honestly really hate the targeted ads they really upset me. I noticed this about a month before the class when ads for the university of Utah and Hollister kept showing up on my searches for google. For a little bit I just thought they were on the websites I went to but soon realized they were targeted ads. This perturbs me and makes me feel like I'm being monitored which is not okay. I think the only solution is to definitely make more regulations. Its now more evident to me that information is such a valuable resource to companies. So, our information needs to be protected. The case predicting the elderly people is awful. The fact that data can be sold showing the likelihood of INDIVIDUALS being gullible is sick. Nothing should be traced back to one person and relations need to be made because of this. I believe that consent should be required before collecting the information on an individual just because of the many implications your data can have.
ReplyDeleteBoo I didn't read this over before I submitted It there are some typos boo
DeleteIf you're concerned about your data being collected, try installing a VPN! Opera, the web browser, has one built in for free.
Deletehttps://www.howtogeek.com/133680/htg-explains-what-is-a-vpn/
Mason: You are essentially arguing for a European Union approach to personal data, which has never gained any widespread support in the U.S. Data is a valuable commodity and it is being collected and sold every minute of every day of every year. Ethan's suggestion above enhances privacy, but data brokers collect information about individuals from multiple sources, not just from web searches.
DeleteThis topic is one of the more troubling ones to me so far because data collection in this style is so secretive, so hard to avoid, and can have such a widespread impact on a person's life. Like Andrew, I explored Acxiom's website a little bit and found that to learn what information they have about you you have to pay, only $5, but I think that still implies that the data they have about you belongs to them, while I think it should belong to the consumer. Also, to opt out, you have to give them your full name, and the places you know longer want to receive targeted ads including your phone number, email address, and mailing address. So, rather than removing all your information from their database, you may only stopping the company from sending you ads.
ReplyDeleteThis leads into one of my greatest concerns, which is how long the data about someone is kept, and the ability to create a detailed, but narrow perspective on someone through time. Because the industry is so unregulated, it's possible for a person's entire life as portrayed on the internet to be recorded, which I don't see as being much different from China's social credit system in that data brokers use consumer scores to enable businesses to discriminate against people based mostly in assumptions, in the disguise of convenience for the consumer to receive targeted ads they may or may not want.
Overall, I would like more regulations on the industry to be put in place, so the line can be drawn between when profiling and targeted ads are acceptable and when they discriminate against people. Ideally, starting points for this would be full transparency of the companies, and an opt-in, rather than opt-out system, and the ability for consumers to access and edit their information for free, although it would be a great deal harder for data brokerage to be profitable.
Lily: We will explore the Acxiom web site and what information is available in class on Wednesday. The $5 fee does reflect Acxiom's view that they own the data. It is also a way to discourage too many people from requesting their information.
DeleteI agree with your conclusion, there definitely needs to be regulations on Data Brokers. The fact that data brokers are creating a collection of data without the consent of the consumer gives me great unease because as a consumer you don’t know what information is being collected or when.
ReplyDeleteThe fact they haven’t been regulated is insane. Especially considering that is only 50% of the information they acquire is accurate. A question I have is how long do they store this data and for how long? Andrew brought out a good point, how do data brokers differentiate from minors and adults? I’m honestly surprised it’s taken this long to pass legislation regulating data brokers.
The Data Broker Accountability and Transparency Act has been introduced in Congress for the past four years, but the bill has not only not been enacted, it has not even been put to a vote.
DeleteI agree that data brokers must be regulated. All data, evidence, and logic aside I am inclined to make this decision purely on how it feels. It feels wrong to allow large, secretive organizations to collect information about everyone in society and build files that can be used to determine what we see, or can and can't do.
ReplyDeleteBut I also feel the need to bring up the fact that the internet isn't free. Companies, and people, need to make money. Someone has to pay for Facebook, Google, and all the other sites we visit and services we use multiple times a day. I, for one, would be willing to pay for the use of a service like Google. But that is partly because I am able to. I harbor great concerns that low income individuals would be limited access to the internet even more if we didn't allow data brokers to collect information and generate revenue online.
I still agree with your conclusion. They need to be regulated. But how much can they be regulated while still allowing "free" access to the wide span of the internet?
Quaid: You will get the opportunity to decide whether you are willing to pay for an online service when you answer Monday's Question of the Week.
DeleteWanting an internet both free of charge and data brokers in incredibly unrealistic. I consider my information to be payment in exchange for service--if I want to use Facebook, but I don't want to hand over actual currency, I have to be willing to pay in some other way.
ReplyDeleteIn every argument that I've seen against data brokers, it is presented as some unavoidable evil that Little Brother is forcing upon us...but that simply isn't true. If you are truly disturbed by this collection, just pay for a nice VPN (Virtual Private Network) too keep that information private. It is YOUR job to keep yourself and your information safe if you so desire.
Also, unrelated to my response, but here's one of my favorite stories wrt data mining
Deletehttps://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/#5ffda7316668
Oh, and I forgot to mention; the web browser Opera comes with a free built in VPN!
DeleteI don't have an problem with data broking, but do agree that there needs to be regulations on it. They are making money off of our data without our consent and without us ever knowing about what goes into it because they are hiding what they are doing from us. If they are going to take my data and use it to help me get ads that are more targeted towards me that is alright because it is better than just seeing random ads. They should not be able to make money off of it though, which is the entire reason this enterprise is created.
DeleteEthan: The Kashmir Hill Target story is also one of my favorite stories about the power of data collection, which is one reason why I made it an assigned reading.
DeleteCole: The issue of data brokers making money off of targeted ads delivered to you is addressed in this week's Question of the Week and you will have the opportunity to back up your words with your money!:)
I agree that regulations should exist for data brokers. I find the anonymous existence of individuals who study what I look up online to be invasive and could lead to incorrect information being spread about me. Just last month, as we started this class, I decided to look up a YouTube video recommended by my friend. The next day I started receiving advertisements for merchandise based off the YouTube video, something that I barely spent any time on. It is easy for data brokers to take any information we have and spread it, even if it is outdated or incorrect information. I believe data brokers should allow individuals to see what data is stored about them so that the individual is able to learn about what information about them is spread. Ultimately, I'm fine with data brokers existing and collecting factual information. If ads are going to be used throughout the internet they may as well be ads for products I may actually have interest in.
ReplyDeleteAs we will discuss in class on Wednesday, digital ads displayed on the web sites you visit are what supports a free internet. Google could charge you five cents for every search you do, or it could collect information about what you search for and use that information to sell targeted ads to advertisers. To date, it has opted the latter as the economic model to avoid charging a fee.
DeleteI don't find data collection by data brokers to be invasive, and agree with Ethan that it is the price we pay for free internet services. That being said, a bit of regulation could go a long way in protecting people by establishing what information can be collected and who it can be sold to. This could protect elderly people by keeping their information from being sold to scam artists, etc. Also, there needs to be a way to fix wrong information; while inaccurate information may directly affect individuals it also affects the data brokers as it is in their best interest for the data to be accurate too so fixing inaccurate information would be mutually beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the post that regulations should exist for data brokers. There should also be ways to correct inaccuracies. However, I also agree with some of the other replies that data collection is the price of free services. I would also prefer to see ads relevant to me than random ads, so there is that benefit to consider as well.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree, data brokers and data brokering should be extensively regulated, and at the federal level. My concerns are similar to Garet's. In any regulations, I would like to be granted the ability to obtain access to information about myself, and correct or change it if necessary, since I believe access is a fundamental privacy right. I would also like for regulations to force brokers to not obtain any identities, and obscure any identities associated with a website or IP address (such as those coming from an email or store account). This way, no insurer or college, like Garet mentions, would be able to purchase information about a specific person.
ReplyDelete