The Data Brokers
After watching these 60 minutes videos, discuss how you feel about the business of selling private information:
1. Should it be legal? People willingly put there information into questionnaires and online surveys, so marketers or "data brokers" are just using information that people have put out on the internet.
2. What, if anything, should be done about the practice?
3. If you've filled out a survey or shared personal information with a company, did you have any idea that they'd be able to sell your information?
4. From the second video, what do you think about the steps the woman takes to protect her privacy?
Link: "The Data Brokers"
Link: "How To Defend Your Privacy Online"
It shouldn't be legal, there shouldn't even be quizzes or questionnaire's on the internet for people to give the personal information out. I had no idea that they would be able to sell your information, I knew that people could access your information but that's why I never filled one of the questionnaire's out. I think the steps that the woman too was smart, I don't think that I would be able to think about it to look that far into my phone to clear my tracking history.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement because there should not be a possibility of people getting their information sold by doing a quiz/questionnaire. I think it is everybody's choice and if they know their information could potentially be sold that's their fault
Deletei agree with you it shouldnt be legal, and no their shouldnt be quizzes on the internet to give people your infomation
DeleteI agree. Especially about the surveys, a lot of them serve no purpose besides selling your information.
DeleteI think that collecting the information is fine, it can help websites learn why people view certain things, but how someone uses the information is a different story. I have taken online surveys but had no idea they'd be able to sell my information. I think selling the information should be illegal, thats someones personal information, it shouldn't be sold "just because". However, if someone committed a crime and they were viewing questionable things than that would be a case where selling the information wouldn't be a bad idea. In the second video I think that the woman was too cautious, I mean using a different name wasn't a bad idea but I don't think anyone would want to look that far into my browsing history so I wouldn't worry about it that much.
ReplyDeleteI understand where you're coming from. I too have taken online surveys but had no clue they were taking my "personal" information. This should not be aloud, not only is it invading your personal life but it is very dangerous also.
DeleteI see what you mean, but I still feel like it's wrong for complete strangers to be buying and selling someones information. You make a good point about using the bought and sold information to catch a criminal, though.
DeleteI like the idea for the information being used in court, but still, the information shouldn't be accessible through this way at all without someone who's willing.
DeleteIt should be legal but at the same time I don"t feel like it should be because it doesn't seem right to just be taking and selling your information like that doesn't sound very good to me it seems wrong but yet again people are putting their information out there on their own so its kind of your choice
ReplyDeleteI think you should be able to "look something up" or able to put information on your own laptop onto trusted sites without having to worry about someone getting your personal information and selling it. It's not right that you have to worry about someone getting your personal information. The internet can already be a dangerous place. Why can't you put you're information on your own laptop or phone and keep it private? It's an invasion of privacy and I don't think it's right.
DeleteI agree you should be able to put your information on your laptop and sites that you trust without having to worry about people seeing your information or even selling your information on the internet. That's really not right at all.
DeleteI agree, it seems wrong. However, collecting the information in itself may not be the worst thing ever. It could help keep information about sexual predators or people who have been tried for murder because we could solve crimes and convict them faster and it may be a little easier.
DeleteI agree it is wrong to even think about selling information for someone else to have that you might not even know.
DeleteCollecting information is alright to a certain degree,but you can go past a certain point if you start collecting personal things like credit card numbers and birth information and such. Then when people start selling your information is no good at all because people are using your information to gain money and now even more people know who you are and details in your life. I have not taken online survey's which I think is very good. I think what that women did was smart but still it was a little far she seems paranoid.
ReplyDeleteyes i agree with you, i think they could go to far with taking your information and yeah the woman seemed a little paranoid
DeleteI agree, getting to access your credit card information and brith information shouldn't be right unless you are buying something off of the internet, but they shouldn't be able to go as far as taking their money from their accounts.
DeleteI agree, there is a fine line between gathering information simply for recreational purposes and then theres taking advantage of that information
DeleteI agree, there is a fine line between gathering information simply for recreational purposes and then theres taking advantage of that information
DeleteI think that woman was completely crazy because whenever she wasn't using her phone she put it in a bag where no signals could get through.
DeleteI think that if you take a questionnaire it shouldn't be used for data brokers they should have their own questionnaires so people are taking the quizzes knowning that its just for them.
ReplyDeleteI think its fine if you know whats its going to be used for.
DeleteI agree it shouldn't be used for data brokers they should have their own
DeleteI don't believe it should be legal for them to be able to take your information. The quizzes and questionnaires should be made for people to just fill it out if they're bored or to have fun, not to give out their personal information that has the possibility to be sold. I think the steps the woman takes to protect her privacy is not bad, but seems like a lot to me to be honest. However, it is your own choice to put your information out somewhere that you're unsure of.
ReplyDeleteI agree these quizzes and such need to be safe and people can just fill them out and not worry about if their information will be stolen .
DeleteI had no idea that my information could be sold and honestly it scared me to know that, like what if they got the wrong idea and accuses you of something you didn't do, or think you are a different person than who you really are
ReplyDeleteI don't think you should be tracked, especially if you don't want too. There should be some sort of "setting" were you have privacy and there's a guarantee you will not be tracked, and people cannot see your history, or where you are. We shouldn't have to be tracked. It's an invasion of privacy and personal information/
ReplyDeletei think that the woman are very smart with the steps they take, but also a little to cautious like going that far with the history search
ReplyDeleteI don't think buying and selling someone else's personal information should be legal. That's someone's privacy and it's not right for people buying and selling it without their knowledge. If people knew, I feel like they would take a lot less surveys. While taking a survey I never thought my information would be bought and sold to other companies or sites other than the one I was on. I feel like the woman was being smart and taking precaution, but it also seemed a little far. I wouldn't go through that much trouble, but I see her point in doing all of that.
ReplyDeleteI agree, it's not right to sell or share someone's personal information. It never even crossed my mind about someone taking my information from what I thought might have been a trustworthy survey, but now I know.
DeleteI agree with the survey part, after this i will not be taking a survey
DeleteI think a lot of people are being "tricked" into taking surveys, quiz's, etc. Chances are, most people don't know their information is being stolen and sold to different companies.
DeleteI feel if there were people willing to give out information to a certain extent it would be fine, but I don't like the idea of it happening to just anyone either
DeleteI don't think you should be allowed to make money on someones personal information. You're basically taking advantage of them and making money at their expense. Its one thing to inform someone about something this person posted on the internet, because they know that whatever you put on the internet, is never 100% forgotten. However, taking someones survey and selling it to make easy money is not acceptable.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree
DeleteI honestly don't know why someone would want just simple information, just from going on and logging into a website, these people really need to find something better to do
i agree its just wrong to make money off of someone elses work.
DeleteI agree, I think if someones "tricking" you into giving their personal information, or just plain watching what you're doing, and then going and selling it. I think you should be informed that someone is collecting and selling information that you're putting into you're laptop/phone/ipad, and not only that, you should have a choice whether they're able to collect and sell information and if you give permission, you should be paid.
DeleteI don't think you should be allowed to make money on someones personal information. You're basically taking advantage of them and making money at their expense. Its one thing to inform someone about something this person posted on the internet, because they know that whatever you put on the internet, is never 100% forgotten. However, taking someones survey and selling it to make easy money is not acceptable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this i think making money off of other peoples information should be very illegal. Its just really wrong for people to sell other peoples information.
Deletei agree its just wrong to make money off of someone elses work.
DeleteI think that it's unfair, people should not be able to be tracked by a company if they decide they don't want to, even if they search up weird things and are always on their computers. And I would've never known that people sell your information to Data Brokers, idk who would want to just buy information that sees a persons history of things they searched on their phone.
ReplyDeleteWhen this topic was first brought up in class, I had no idea that people were taking my personal information just by taking a survey. This is very unfair and dangerous for people to be doing this. I do not not think under any circumstance that this should be legal. Having people thinking it's an innocent survey then taking their information is not only manipulating but extremely dangerous. In the second video the women realized that people were taking her information, she may have went a little over the top but she did something about it and that's what matters. The fact that people must worry about this is just unfortunate.
ReplyDeleteI agree I will like this fair to the people that they are taking information from. I also feel if I person wants to take their information back that willing.
DeleteI agree. Using a survey to get information out of people isn't right, and in no way should it be legal.
DeleteI agree, it's very scary knowing that there are people out there who take peoples information and could careless what person they are getting information on, they'll take anyone's information they can find just so they can make money off of it.
DeleteI agree it is wrong to worry about something that should be not happening on the internet in the first place and how people are going beyond what they shouldn't have to do to not have other people access their personal information like the lady in the video
DeleteI agree, I don't think it is right to use a survey to get people's personal information.
DeleteI think taking peoples personal information should be illegal and if the companies wanted some of your information for marketing, they should tell you that you they are going to use it. Its also not fair that if you want to get out of their program that they make it basically impossible.
ReplyDeletei dont like the fact that there are other people watching what you are looking up i find it a bit creepy that there the specific websites and how many other websites could be watching you too i just think it should be illegal to have that so they cant steal your identity.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's kinda creepy but in a way it can be useful for websites to see what they need to improve for better traffic to their website.
DeleteI also agree with Shay that it is creepy, but I disagree with Shay that it cannot be useful
DeleteIf you use you use this data to access personal information for the wrong reason then it should be illegal but if you only wanted to know something that isn't personal that the user provides publicly you wouldn't need to access the information. It is wrong to access private information and that they have the ability to do it in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI kind of agree what you are saying but I don't think anyone should be aloud to get any information. It is no one's business what people do on the internet.
DeleteWhen I heard about this topic I didn't think much of it. I new people could get personal information about you but I never realized how much information they got. This shouldn't be aloud in my opinion, for people to track everything you are looking at or doing. In the second video the lady had to totally isolate her self from the internet. I don't think this should be allowed it is unfair to everyone one who uses the internet. Where does it end with the internet pretty soon google and other company's will be able to track what stores you go to.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I had no idea how much of our personal information this people could really get until now. I feel like we should be more informed of how much information they really have about us and what we can do to help from them getting all of our information in the first place.
DeleteThe whole thing just freaks me out and really scares me. How can we really truly know if someone is watching every single move we make online or on are phones. The fact that they can see where we are going and where we are because of apps on are phones is really crazy.
ReplyDeleteI agree it is kinda scary to think that someone is watching what we do, and what we look up I think we should have rights to privacy
DeleteGathering anonymous information is fine, it helps researchers do their jobs. Selling information that isn't yours to give away is just wrong. I didn't know people sold information, but I never filled out random surveys just in case "it was a trick." I never fully understood what the trick was until now. The woman had the right ideas, but maybe went a little too far. She just wanted to protect her personal life though, which is understandable. It should be legal with willing participants and not just oblivious people on the internet.
ReplyDeleteNobody knows how many so-called list owners and list brokers are operating nationwide. The best guess is tens of thousands.
ReplyDeleteThese businesses operate largely unregulated, overseen day to day by no official authority.And if they get things wrong that is, if there’s ever need to correct files as a result of a death, divorce or similarly life changing event there's pretty much nothing you can do to hold them accountable.