#data brokers
#data brokers

Who's selling your digital data? California gives you tools to protect your online privacy

Data brokers like Near Intelligence and Outlogic sell location and personal data, potentially compromising user privacy. [ more ]

POLITICO

A company tracked visits to 600 Planned Parenthood locations for anti-abortion ads, senator says

Location data was used for a national anti-abortion ad campaign targeting Planned Parenthood clinics.

This campaign is the largest targeting campaign against reproductive health clinics based on brokered data. [ more ]

Electronic Frontier Foundation

4 months ago

FTC Bars X-Mode from Selling Sensitive Location Data

Phone app location data brokers pose a threat to privacy and safety by selling our location data to advertisers and even police.

The Federal Trade Commission has taken action against X-Mode Social for collecting and selling raw location data to marketers and government contractors. [ more ]

morelocation-data

national-security

Theregister

4 weeks ago

Congress votes to kick Uncle Sam's data broker habit

A bill progressing to the Senate aims to prohibit the US government from buying citizens' data from brokers, sparking controversy on privacy and national security concerns. [ more ]

The Verge

The CFPB wants to rein in data brokers

CFPB plans to regulate data brokers under FCRA for consumer data protection. [ more ]

Engadget

House passes bill that would bar data brokers from selling Americans' personal information to 'adversary' countries

The Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act passed House with 414-0 vote

The bill targets data brokers selling sensitive info to adversary countries like Russia, China [ more ]

Nextgov.com

House advances bill empowering FTC to punish data transfers to foreign rivals

The House approved a measure penalizing data brokers transferring data to foreign adversaries like China.

The bill would allow the FTC to seek civil penalties when data brokers sell information to countries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. [ more ]

english.elpais.com

Biden issues executive order to better shield Americans' sensitive data from foreign foes

Biden signs order protecting Americans' personal data from foreign adversaries

Targeting commercial data brokers to safeguard sensitive data [ more ]

Engadget

Biden signs executive order to stop Russia and China from buying Americans' personal data

Personal data sale restricted to 'countries of concern'

National security concerns over personal data sales [ more ]

morenational-security

mozilla

Ars Technica

Mozilla's privacy service drops a provider with ties to people-search sites

The $240 billion data broker industry profits from selling private information.

Mozilla cut ties with a key provider of privacy protections, Onerep, due to conflicts of interest. [ more ]

Theregister

Mozilla adds paid-for data-deletion tier to Monitor service

Mozilla has introduced a paid tier for its privacy-monitoring service, called Mozilla Monitor Plus, which aims to remove users' personal information from data brokers.

Monitor Plus will try to get data brokers to delete their copies of subscribers' personal information, providing users with more control over their data.

Mozilla's revenue diversification strategy includes expanding its services and offering paid features to generate income. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Mozilla targets scummy data brokers with Monitor Plus removal service

Mozilla has launched an alternative to people-search websites called Mozilla Monitor Plus which automatically monitors and removes personal information from data broker sites and known data breaches.

The Plus version of Mozilla Monitor costs $14 per month or $108 per year, and offers a faster removal process compared to the free version.

Data brokers gather information from online traces left by account sign-ups, advertising, web browsing, and other activities, and sell it to customers like the NSA and FBI. [ more ]

Engadget

Mozilla Monitor scrubs your leaked personal information from the web, for a fee

Mozilla is launching a new tool called Mozilla Monitor Plus that can automatically monitor data brokers for personal information and remove any exposed details.

The new paid service aims to proactively keep personal information off more than 190 data broker sites, which is double the number monitored by competitors. [ more ]

The Verge

Privacy technologies

Firefox maker Mozilla has a new subscription to keep your info out of data brokers' clutches

Mozilla introduces Mozilla Monitor Plus, a paid subscription privacy monitoring service

The service scans for personal information on over 190 sites and attempts to get it removed [ more ]

moremozilla

ftc

Nextgov.com

House panel to weigh bill barring data brokers from making transfers to foreign rivals

Legislation introduced penalizing data brokers transferring data to foreign adversaries like China

FTC may have authority to penalize data brokers selling information to foreign adversaries [ more ]

Ars Technica

NSA finally admits to spying on Americans by purchasing sensitive data

The NSA has admitted to buying records from data brokers detailing Americans' website and app usage.

Senator Ron Wyden is calling on intelligence agencies to stop buying illegally obtained personal data from data brokers. [ more ]

Therecord

FTC settles second case with geolocation data broker in two weeks

The Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on location data brokers who sell sensitive data without informed consent.

Data aggregator InMarket Media improperly collected, used, and stored consumers' location data, violating Section 5 of the FTC Act. [ more ]

moreftc

privacy

Theregister

US and Europe try to tame surveillance capitalism

Data brokers need to reconsider the definition of sensitive data due to recent enforcement actions by the FTC.

The FTC considers browsing and location data as sensitive even without traditional identifiable information, focusing on what can be inferred from it. [ more ]

AdExchanger

What Is A Data Broker? | AdExchanger

Data brokers dislike being called data brokers due to negative connotation.

Legal definition of a data broker includes companies that collect consumer data for monetization. [ more ]

Therecord

New Jersey law enforcement officers sue 118 data brokers for not removing personal info

Criminal justice personnel in New Jersey have filed 118 class action lawsuits against data brokers for failing to remove personal information from the internet.

Data brokers could face fines of at least $2.3 billion as a result of the lawsuits. [ more ]

404 Media

Woman Got Cremation Ads in the Mail After Getting Chemotherapy

A woman in Connecticut received mail advertisements for cremation services after completing chemotherapy, which was likely due to data brokers and data analytics firms in the marketing industry.

Data brokers often have access to medical records or other medical information, allowing them to target individuals based on sensitive health conditions. [ more ]

ReadWrite

Mozilla introduces Monitor Plus to safeguard personal data from data brokers

Mozilla has introduced Monitor Plus, a subscription service that helps users remove their personal data from data brokers.

Monitor Plus proactively scans over 190 data broker sites and handles the removal process of personal information if found.

Mozilla Monitor will continue offering a free scan for those not ready to subscribe, but Monitor Plus offers a more convenient and hands-off solution. [ more ]

Therecord

NSA purchases of Americans' personal data from brokers is illegal, senator says

Sen. Ron Wyden argues that the NSA's purchase of Americans' internet records from data brokers is illegal based on a recent FTC ruling.

Wyden released documents showing senior defense officials acknowledging the purchase of commercial data but not location data. [ more ]

moreprivacy

Truthout

1 week ago

Facing Constant Doxxing Threats, Reproductive Health Workers Fear for Their Data

Data brokers sell sensitive personal information, posing threats to military personnel and abortion providers. [ more ]

Kqed

3 weeks ago

Worried About Data Brokers in California? Here's How to Protect Yourself Online | KQED

The article highlights how data brokers track personal information and the need for consumer data protection regulations. [ more ]

Lookout Santa Cruz

3 weeks ago

Who's selling your digital data? California gives you tools to protect your online privacy

A California law passed to delete data collected by over 450 companies on the data broker registry, including those selling personal and sensitive information. [ more ]

WIRED

DuckDuckGo Is Taking Its Privacy Fight to Data Brokers

DuckDuckGo launching tools for data removal, VPN, and identity theft restoration.

New browser-based tool to automatically scan data broker websites for removal without user details submission. [ more ]

Theregister

No more American data for hostile nations, says Congress

The Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024 passed the House with unanimous support.

The bill prohibits data brokers from selling Americans' data to specific foreign adversaries. [ more ]

The Verge

House passes bill to prevent the sale of personal data to foreign adversaries

Prohibition on selling Americans' data to foreign adversaries

Broad limits on data brokers' activities [ more ]

The Verge

Biden orders crackdown on selling Americans' personal data abroad

The executive order authorizes preventing large-scale transfer of personal data to certain countries. Data brokers collect extensive personal data. Several departments will implement new protections under the order. [ more ]

www.theguardian.com

Junk mail: how one click can lead to a deluge

Retailers may share addresses with data brokers, leading to unsolicited catalogues.

Companies trade in personal information, creating detailed profiles for marketing. [ more ]

www.housingwire.com

Major real estate firms among defendants in 118 data privacy lawsuits

Nearly a dozen real estate industry firms have been named as defendants in data privacy lawsuits.

The lawsuits allege violations of a law that prohibits the disclosure of home addresses and unpublished home phone numbers for certain individuals. [ more ]

Databreaches

New Jersey law enforcement officers sue 118 data brokers for not removing personal info

Over 100 class action lawsuits have been filed against data brokers in New Jersey.

The lawsuits allege that the data brokers failed to remove personal information from the internet as requested by law enforcement personnel. [ more ]

Theregister

Senator says NSA is buying up Americans' browser habits

US Senator Ron Wyden has called on the US Director of National Intelligence to stop intelligence agencies from purchasing Americans' unlawfully collected personal data from data brokers.

The NSA has been purchasing Americans' domestic internet metadata and location data harvested from Americans' smartphones, without a warrant.

The acquisition of Americans' personal data is facilitated by the flow of information from apps to data brokers, without the app users' informed consent. [ more ]

www.nytimes.com

N.S.A. Buys Americans' Internet Data Without Warrants, Letter Says

The National Security Agency (NSA) purchases internet activity logs from commercial data brokers, according to an unclassified letter.

The data does not include the content of internet communications, but the practice raises concerns about privacy and legal gray areas. [ more ]

www.cnn.com

EU data protection

Feds crack down hard on selling of personal data without consent

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has banned InMarket Media from selling or licensing people's precise geolocation data, highlighting the government's crackdown on data brokers.

InMarket allegedly gathered consumer location data from mobile apps and used it for targeted advertising without users' informed consent. [ more ]

Washington Post

Regulators crack down on company selling detailed location data

Federal regulators are cracking down on companies that profit off people's sensitive personal information.

The FTC has settled with two companies, InMarket Media and Outlogic (formerly X-Mode Social), to prohibit the sale of users' sensitive location data. [ more ]

Theregister

Thousands of businesses hand over your info to Facebook

Over 2,000 companies on average share user information with Facebook for every lone user.

The study focused on server-to-server contact between Meta and data brokers and retailers, allowing Facebook to mine users' data for its own purposes. [ more ]

Theregister

5 months ago

NSA director appointment blocked over data privacy questions

Senator Ron Wyden is blocking the confirmation of a new NSA director until he gets answers about the NSA's acquisition of Americans' location and browsing data.

Data brokers are selling personal data to government agencies without a warrant, potentially violating the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. [ more ]

London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

5 months ago

How to remove personal information from internet

The number of victims targeted by cybercriminals has almost doubled since 2019.

Concerns over personal information control have increased, with people seeking to have their data deleted from the web.

Removing personal information from data brokers and people search sites can help minimize exposure to cybercrime. [ more ]

Alleywatch

5 months ago