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Data brokers have detailed files on you. Here’s what’s in them — and how it impacts you
Reports show profiles with more than 1,000 predictions are sold to over 100 major companies for marketing, pricing and lending decisions.
- According to a review by Consumer Reports and The Markup, data brokers routinely aggregate digital footprints and public records to sell detailed consumer profiles to hundreds of companies.
- Firms like Acxiom and Epsilon harvest massive datasets to build predictive models, assigning consumers labels like "Best Profit Margin" or "Mid Life Munchkins" to estimate financial profitability.
- Brokers make thousands of predictions about financial behaviors, from estimated "alcohol usage" to car-buying likelihood, enabling pharmaceutical firms and insurers to target marketing and calculate premiums.
- Since California enacted new privacy laws, consumers can now request their personal data files, though compliance remains uneven and opting out often fails to erase copies sold to others.
- Proposed legislation in at least 30 states aims to address discriminatory pricing, as critics describe the industry as underregulated and invasive regarding collection methods and unfair consequences.
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Data brokers have detailed files on you. Here’s what’s in them — and how it impacts you
Data brokers collect thousands of details about your finances, health and habits. See what’s in your profile, who buys it and how companies use it.
·New York, United States
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Total News Sources9
Leaning Left3Leaning Right0Center2Last UpdatedBias Distribution60% Left
Bias Distribution
- 60% of the sources lean Left
60% Left
L 60%
C 40%
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