Although many of us accept the fact that our personal data can be accessed by third-party actors, we are often unaware of the role data brokers play in the dissemination of this information. These shadow actors contribute to a $214 billion industry that affects tens of millions of Americans by scraping and packaging together the public’s digital records (e.g., health information and credit scores). By directing a program to pull your information off websites and into various spreadsheets, data brokers can then sell this data to marketers and other companies.
A recent study by researchers at Duke University highlighted the extremes to which data brokers will go to acquire this information from a surprising source: United States military personnel. Contacting multiple data-broker firms, researchers were able to acquire information on roughly 30,000 active-duty military personnel as well as 5,000 friends and family members of these military members. Here were some of the key takeaways:
- The researchers found it relatively easy to obtain the health, financial and other sensitive data of active-duty military members and veterans from U.S. data brokers.
- This cost them as little as $0.12 per record.
- Data brokers utilize inconsistent methods of determining the identities of their customers and do not follow industry best-practices. Unsurprisingly, these methods are unregulated by the United States government.
- These methods did not change when the location of the customer changed (i.e., when the customer was located outside of the United States).
What does this all mean? Well, for one, it means that malicious actors could target active-duty military personnel and veterans, as well as their families and acquaintances, for attacks. This is problematic from the perspective of national security, but it also calls into question how much civilian data has already been sold. According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, data brokers use secret algorithms to build profiles on every American citizen. These algorithms can help determine anything from interest rates on mortgages to raising consumer interest rates. In one example the EPIC gave, an individual’s credit score took a forty-point hit because he requested information about his mortgage.
Currently, there is no federal law to regulate the data brokerage industry. Individual states like California and Vermont have passed laws to reign in the reckless sale of personal data, but this issue still requires a national movement. Until then, individuals need to be vigilant about the information they share and limit their public visibility.
