You probably assume Google and Facebook know everything about you. You may not have heard of a group of companies who possibly know even more. They’re called data brokers, and their business is collecting and selling personal data—typically without your knowledge or consent—that are used to verify identity, help marketers, detect fraud and help perform detailed “people searches.”
You probably assume Google $GOOGL and Facebook $META know everything about you. You may not have heard of a group of companies who possibly know even more. They’re called data brokers, and their business is collecting and selling personal data—typically without your knowledge or consent—that are used to verify identity, help marketers, detect fraud and help perform detailed “people searches.”
Most people have little idea that these companies exist. A new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report out today attempts to shed more light on them. The report describes an industry that collects data from many sources without consumers knowing; that is multi-layered and intertwined; and that stores billions of data points covering nearly every US consumer.
Join 500,000+ readers who start their day with Quartz.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
The report looked at nine major data brokers: Acxiom, Corelogic, Datalogix, eBureau, ID Analytics, Intelius, PeekYou, Rapleaf, and Recorded Future.
The report includes a “representative list” (pdf, p. 97-100) of the kinds of data the companies collect. Some are what you’d expect—name, address, social security number, and the bluntly termed “ability to afford products.” But then there are segments like “thrifty elders,” new age/organic lifestyle adherents, bikers/Hell’s Angels, members of more than five online shopping sites, people with fireplaces, people who do a lot of medical googling (an ”ailment and prescription online search propensity”), those who have credit with “a low-end standalone department store” (read: WalMart), and perhaps most bizarrely of all, purchasers of “Novelty Elvis” products.
Here’s the full list.
• Name
• Social Security Number
• Age
• Bankruptcies
• Electronics Purchases
• Census Tract Data
• Apparel Preferences
• Ability to Afford Products
• Brand Preferences
• Read Books or Magazines About Travel
• Amount Spent on Goods
• Ailment and Prescription Online Search Propensity
