We often don't value our privacy until it's gone. Lost privacy can mean that your personal information is collected, analyzed and shared by data brokers, marketing companies, employers, and insurance companies. You may learn your privacy has been compromised only after you've been refused a job based on your Facebook profile, denied the ability to return a purchase because of previous returns to that store, or added to telemarketing lists.
What are data brokers and people search sites?
Data brokers are companies that collect information about you from a wide range of sources. They create detailed profiles about you. They then sell or share your personal information with others, including:
- Businesses and other organizations
- Government agencies
- Other individuals
People search sites are data brokers that specialize in providing personal information (such as your age, phone number or address) to others online.
The President recently signed S.J. Res. 34 (Senate Joint Resolution), which rolls back privacy regulations enacted last year at the Federal Communications Commission. These regulations would have blocked Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from sharing their customers’ internet activity with third parties. They also would have banned ISPs from collecting or storing certain types of customer information without your consent.
Every month through our online question & complaint center, we receive numerous inquiries about online data brokers and “People Search” sites. Here are some of the questions we see most frequently, along with our best answers:
My personal information and/or information about my family is published online without my consent. How is this legal?
About the Author: Stephanie Britt is a UCLA alum and CIPP/US-certified privacy rights advocate.
Modern consumers live in their phones. But how do you balance the ease of messaging technology with its known risks to personal privacy?
In response to security risks and privacy concerns, many messaging apps have implemented end-to-end encryption to promote trust among their users. However, the degree of privacy users get still varies from app-to-app depending on what information is encrypted and the app’s general design.
January 28th is Data Privacy Day! Since this particular holiday comes so early in the year, it’s a great opportunity to make some changes in the way you manage your personal data. Here are 17 things you can do to put your best privacy foot forward for 2017.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began accepting 2016 income tax returns on January 23, 2017. More than 153 million individual tax returns are expected to be filed in 2017.
2016 was a record-breaking year for data breaches in the United States. An estimated 1,093 companies and government agencies were breached, exposing everything from passwords to Social Security numbers. As we enter 2017, data privacy begins to play a major role in building trust between businesses and consumers. Data security policies are crucial to companies who value the protection of their data and the privacy of their clients' information.
Ridesharing services have become a very popular alternative to traditional taxis, and make it easy to get home safely after a big night out. But, how much do you know about what information the rideshare software is collecting? Here are some quick tips for you to keep your information safe during the holiday season and all year round:
Did you receive a gift card during the holiday season? If so, it’s important that you understand your rights. While most gift cards cannot be redeemed for cash, federal law does provide you with some consumer protections. Many states offer you additional rights.
Federal law provides the following consumer protections: