By now, it’s no secret that the endless quest by tech companies, data brokers and other players to capture, make sense of and monetize as much user data as possible – a practice known as surveillance capitalism – presents all sorts of privacy issues. Less discussed are the increased security risks this model creates for companies, governments and individuals.
Let’s start by looking at the estimated $200 billion-per-year data broker industry. This industry largely operates in the shadows, with California’s privacy law taking only the first step of requiring brokers to register with the state attorney general, meaning that just about anyone can buy data from a broker.