Data Broker
Contents
Definition
A Data Broker is a company or individual that collects, processes, and sells personal data, often without direct interaction with the individuals whose data is being gathered. They obtain information from various sources, including public records, online activity, and commercial transactions, then package and sell it to businesses, advertisers, or even government agencies
Context
Congress hasn't passed a new consumer privacy law since 1988's Video Privacy Protection Act. The last technological privacy issue your legislature considered important enough to address was the scourge of video-store clerks telling newspapers which VHS cassettes you took home:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/06/privacy-first/#but-not-just-privacy
Congress's massive failure created equally massive risks for the rest of us. From phishing and ransomware attacks to identity theft to stalking and SWATting, America's privacy nihilism enabled mass-scale predation upon all of us, rich and poor, old and young, rural and urban, men and women, racialized and white.
That's the void that the CFPB stepped into last summer, when they passed a new rule that would effectively shut down the entire data brokerage industry:
Yesterday, Trump's CFPB boss, Russell Vought, killed that rule, stating that it was "no longer necessary or appropriate":
https://www.wired.com/story/cfpb-quietly-kills-rule-to-shield-americans-from-data-brokers/
Problems
Security Risks Posed by Access to U.S. Sensitive Personal and Government-Related Data from Countries of Concern and Covered Persons]
