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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday March 10 2019, @02:29AM   Printer-friendly
from the we-know-you-better-than-you-do dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Here are the data brokers quietly buying and selling your personal information

It’s no secret that your personal data is routinely bought and sold by dozens, possibly hundreds, of companies. What’s less known is who those companies are, and what exactly they do.

Thanks to a new Vermont law requiring companies that buy and sell third-party personal data to register with the Secretary of State, we’ve been able to assemble a list of 121 data brokers operating in the U.S. It’s a rare, rough glimpse into a bustling economy that operates largely in the shadows, and often with few rules.

Even Vermont’s first-of-its-kind law, which went into effect last month, doesn’t require data brokers to disclose who’s in their databases, what data they collect, or who buys it. Nor does it require brokers to give consumers access to their own data or opt out of data collection. Brokers are, however required to provide some information about their opt-out systems under the law–assuming they provide one.

If you do want to keep your data out of the hands of these companies, you’ll often have to contact them one by one through whatever opt-out systems they provide; more on that below.

Related: A landmark Vermont law nudges over 120 data brokers out of the shadows


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  • (Score: 2) by DrkShadow on Sunday March 10 2019, @05:43AM

    by DrkShadow (1404) on Sunday March 10 2019, @05:43AM (#812240)

    Can you provide me with a list of companies which have pursued copyright enforcement that are selling their own financial, employee, and credit data?

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