Data Brokers

Data Brokers
Author’s Name:
Institution of Affiliation:
Course Name:
Instructor’s Name:
Date:
Data Brokers
Since there has been an increase in the number of data brokers, one of the common questions individuals have been asking is why they exist. Data brokers mainly exist because they usually collect personal information about people and then sell it to interested parties. For example, Acxiom has been one of the largest data broker firms selling data to businesses and individuals (iBroadcast, 2014, 12:13-14:35). Even though some people have been opposing them, the data brokers have some positive impact in addressing society's needs. For example, they help in risk mitigation, where some businesses buy this data to crack down on fraud or the likelihood of the customer defaulting on a loan. Moreover, they help in health insurance by giving information about the symptoms that the individual searches online or the drugs that a person purchases regularly.
There has been a discussion regarding whether people should be blamed for sharing most of their data online. However, even though some people play a part in sharing excessive data online, the individuals should not be blamed. For example, in most instances, people share the information when they believe their privacy is secured. Moreover, most data brokers who take the information do not notify the individuals that they have taken that information. Moreover, there are limitless ways where the individual data is being mined even without sharing their data.
Checking the process of collecting, organizing, and offering data for sale is unethical. One of the reasons this process is unethical is that data brokering does not have transparency in transferring personal data. Fo...