Nowadays anyone who cares about their privacy knows, even vaguely, the broker give.
These companies invasively but legally collect data from online users and then exploit it for commercial purposes. We are talking about real giants who, like any other company, are potentially subject to bankruptcy.
Just three years ago, one of the largest companies in this thriving industry, viz Near, has closed its doors. Taking into account that the company held the data of 1.6 billion people sparse in ben 44 countrieswhat happened to this precious information?
In fact, any other company can purchase the “complete package”. This possibility has raised several doubts among the United States Congress. It was the senator who raised the doubt Ron Wyden over the past week, asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) greater consumer protection in this sense, citing the case of Near.
Wyden’s request follows a disturbing report from Wall Street Journal last year, which reported that Near had sold some data to a anti-abortion group (known as Truth Society) which used them to direct advertisements towards a specific target.
Not only that: apparently, Near has given away data on the location of consumers to the Department of Defense and at intelligence agencies.
Near case and beyond: how to avoid information leaks when a data broker fails?
Near, during his period of activity, had proposed a specific clause which, in this case, allowed the company to resell its information database.
This type of bureaucratic quibble is common in any type of company but, when it deals with data in such a massive quantity, the situation is delicate to say the least. Although the situation has been addressed overseas, the issue related to data brokers and potential failures is also very tangible in Europa. Suffice it to say that the aforementioned Near was based in India and collected information from users all over the world.
In this regard, prevention remains one of the few real weapons available to consumers. Fortunately, recently, some specific services have emerged on the market to protect your data and avoid unpleasant situations.