Is it your Data?
Taking a walk (during Covid-19 so this is, at minimum, the 1,000,000 walk around Greenwich Park), I check my phone, my Smart Watch to log my outdoor walk, check, Twitter, check IG, Google “best Thai take away (in preparation for date night), and have a quick glimpse of Facebook. That took, probably, 3 mins.
In that time, my name, age, height, weight, where I live, where I work, my family my friends, my likes, dislikes, my email, my health condition, my buying habits, were all data points on me that were accessed. These data points are very valuable.
WHERE IS PERSONAL DATA SOURCED?
I always ask myself, if, I am aware of the sheer amount of data on me that is out there and how easily accessible that data is for companies to get?
Sources such as, public records, social media pages, property records, birth certificates, voter registration, gym memberships, etc. These sources are rich pickings for companies to go on ahead and to purchase this data from OTHER companies. You did read that right. OTHER companies that have your data can make multiple streams of revenues for themselves by selling the information they have on their customers.
These companies create “free” websites and services that collect data from users. Put trackers on these websites and services that detect a user's location, their contact list, their photo etc.
CREATING PROFILES FROM OUR DATA
Once these companies have gathered all this data, they begin to create profiles of individuals. They detail an individual’s behaviour, their personality when it comes to their buying habits, their likes / dislikes, preferences, political allegiance, their health conditions, their sexual preferences etc. Once these profiles are created….they are selling!
SELLING THE DATA
This information can be sold to pretty much who wants to pay for it.
The most common customers that data brokers have are all the marketing companies. If a gym had a list of individuals who were interested in getting fit, that would be a very valuable audience for them to target with their advertisements.
This data can also be sold to health insurance companies, banks, people search websites, governments and other data brokers. Your data passing hands as part of a multi billion dollar industry. I don’t know about you, but, I’d like a piece of that pie.
THE PROBLEM.
If many of the free websites and apps that we use require our data in order to be profitable, is it a problem? If it is being used for marketing purposes, is there a big consequence to that?
This is a an argument that does not seem to have a clear solution. One thing that I do believe is that the way our data is being used and managed should be regulated more and more importantly, we should also be able to draw from the well!