#DataBrokers

How Chinese insiders are stealing data scooped up by President Xi’s national surveillance system

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December 8, 2024 at 12:09PM Chinese tech company employees and government workers are involved in a booming black market for user data, including sensitive information from high-ranking officials. This illegal ecosystem thrives on scams and fraud, using data harvested through state surveillance and compromised systems, raising significant privacy risks for individuals in China. ### Meeting … Read more

FTC scolds two data brokers for allegedly selling your location to the metre

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December 3, 2024 at 09:37PM The FTC has settled with data brokers Gravy Analytics and Mobilewalla for selling sensitive location data without consent. Both companies will delete improperly obtained data and enhance privacy measures, as well as refrain from distributing information about visits to sensitive locations. This bipartisan ruling highlights ongoing privacy concerns among regulators. … Read more

FTC bans data brokers from selling Americans’ sensitive location data

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December 3, 2024 at 11:08AM The FTC has banned data brokers Mobilewalla and Gravy Analytics from collecting and selling Americans’ sensitive location data, including visits to churches and healthcare facilities. They must erase historical data, establish sensitive location programs, and are prohibited from future sales of such data, following earlier actions against similar companies. ### … Read more

House passes bill banning Uncle Sam from snooping on citizens via data brokers

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April 18, 2024 at 01:35PM The US House of Representatives passed the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (H.R.4639) to restrict the government’s ability to procure data on citizens through data brokers. The bill seeks to ban the government from purchasing data on Americans from data brokers, drawing divided opinions. Additionally, other surveillance-related bills … Read more

House Passes Bill Barring Sale of Personal Information to Foreign Adversaries

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March 21, 2024 at 11:12AM The US House of Representatives passed bipartisan bill H.R. 7520, prohibiting data brokers from selling Americans’ personal information to foreign adversary countries or entities. The bill empowers the Federal Trade Commission to enforce the legislation and covers various sensitive information types. The legislation aims to safeguard national security and individual … Read more

President Biden Blocks Mass Transfer of Personal Data to High-Risk Nations

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February 29, 2024 at 12:09AM U.S. President Joe Biden’s Executive Order prohibits mass transfer of citizens’ personal data to countries of concern, including sensitive information like genomic, biometric, health, and financial data. The order aims to protect data from being exploited by threat actors and restrict access via commercial agreements. It comes amid concerns about … Read more

Mozilla adds paid-for data-deletion tier to Monitor, its privacy-breach radar

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February 6, 2024 at 04:58PM Mozilla expanded its privacy-monitoring service with Monitor Plus, aiming to remove subscribers’ data from data brokers’ sites for $8.99/month. This move reflects revenue diversification efforts and responds to growing privacy concerns. The service, offering wider data removal coverage than competitors, anticipates the influence of upcoming data protection laws and regulations. … Read more

FTC bans one more data broker from selling your location info

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January 19, 2024 at 12:14PM The FTC settled with InMarket, prohibiting it from selling Americans’ location data. The company collects data from its own and third-party apps, creating detailed advertising profiles without users’ consent. The FTC found InMarket’s data retention policy excessive and proposed measures including data deletion and consent enforcement. This is the FTC’s … Read more

Data Brokers Expose Sensitive US Military Member Info to Foreign Threat Actors: Study

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November 7, 2023 at 11:42AM A new study from Duke University reveals that foreign threat actors can easily access sensitive information on US military members through data brokers. These brokers collect and sell a wide range of information, including personal details, financial data, and health information. The study found that it is inexpensive and straightforward … Read more