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Data brokers are like sharks — you can’t see them or know where they are, but if you’re part of an attack, you’ll definitely know. And if you don’t know, companies are trying to capture our personal information with every mouse click, purchase, or social media post we make. The digital footprint you leave behind, often without even realizing it, will contaminate you.
Read on to learn about data brokers and how to protect your privacy online.
What Are Data Brokers?
Data brokers companies collect extensive data on individuals from a variety of sources. They create detailed profiles of millions of people, often without their knowledge, by pulling information from public records, online activities, and even offline shopping. And they make tons of money from it. Statistics show data broker revenue It is expected to reach 262.28 billion dollars by 2025.
These profiles can include things like your purchasing behavior, health information, and social media posts or financial status. The brokers then sell this information to business people, marketers, or other data traders. They use this data to target their marketing efforts, but the lack of transparency and potential misuse of our personal information is concerning. We don’t always agree with the data they sell, but more often than not, we do so by agreeing to everything without reading what we are agreeing to in order to enter a website.
There are ways to do this to give up There are still many people who don't understand the importance of these agreements and getting back the data we give to third parties (often unknowingly) – they don't even understand that they can do it..
How Do Data Brokers Collect Your Information?
The methods these companies use are numerous and often surprising:
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- Public Records: Government databases store information such as property records, marriage licenses and voter registrations.
- Online Tracking: Most websites use cookies and tracking scripts that track your online behavior, which can be sold to commercial data collectors. When you accept a cookie consent form, you're probably giving away more than you think.
- Purchases and Subscriptions: Loyalty programs, subscriptions and online shopping activities are also tracked and shared with third parties.
- Social Media: Everything you like, share or comment on social media platforms is copied or traded for money, meaning it’s a minefield full of personal details about yourself.
Risks of Data Brokerage
There are a lot of risks if a data broker gets hold of your data. First, do you know who controls your data and what they do with it? That’s risky in itself. Once they get their hands on your data, they can do whatever they want. Think about the amount of data that can be collected. And just think, if hackers get into a data broker’s database, they could expose a lot of personal information, which could lead to identity theft, financial fraud, and more.
Lack of transparency around how we collect data and how it is stored and used means people often don’t know what they are posting online or who has access to it. This can lead to unwanted targeted advertising, discrimination, etc.
How to Protect Your Privacy
Protecting your privacy in an age of pervasive data brokering may seem daunting, but there are a few steps you can take to minimize your data footprint:
- Use Privacy Tools and Extensions: Some tools, like ad blockers and private browsing extensions, will help prevent trackers from collecting your information. Be careful of extensions that block cookies and stop scripts from running without asking for permission.
- Limit Social Media Sharing: Be careful what you share social media platformsChange your privacy settings so that only a select few can see your posts and personal information, and prevent confidential information from being shared publicly.
- Output Options: Most data brokers offer opt-out options; if you’re not aware of this, you can also use a data removal tool that offers to opt-out on your behalf and cleans up your digital footprint.
Stay vigilant, stay informed, and take control of your digital footprint. You don’t really know how many prying eyes are watching your data. But the more you understand about how they might be watching you, the more you can do about it.