From: Epoch Times
By Lois Beckett
The companies that sell information about how much money you make—and whether you’re pregnant, divorced, or trying to lose weight—are facing new scrutiny.
We’ve spent a lot of time this past year trying to understand how the National Security Agency gathers and stores information about ordinary people. But there’s also a thriving public market for data on individual Americans—especially data about the things we buy and might want to buy.
Consumer data companies are scooping uphuge amountsof consumer information about people around the world and selling it, providing marketers details about whether you’re pregnant or divorced or trying to lose weight, about how rich you are and what kinds of cars you drive. But many people still don’t know data brokers exist.
The Federal Trade Commission is pushing the companies to give consumers more information and control over what happens to their data. The White House released a report this May outlining concerns that these detailed consumer profiles might lead to race or income-based discrimination—what the White House called “digital redlining.”
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