Data Broker Regulation: Change on the Horizon?
2018-11-14
by Dustin Moores It is often said that the law lags technology. When it comes to the laws that govern data brokers in Canada, this statement could not be more true. Canada’s federal private sector privacy law has not seen a substantial revision since coming into force in 2001, withRead More →
“Please Wait While We Predict Your Value”: Data Brokers and Fairness
2018-11-12
By Dustin Moores “We are experiencing a higher than normal volume of calls at this time. Please stay on the line to maintain your priority. We value your call. Your current wait time is approximately….” For many of us, messages like these are all too familiar. In my case, itRead More →
Custom Audiences & Unintended Consequences: How Misused Data Products Can Hurt Democracy
2018-11-09
By Dustin Moores Our third podcast explores some of the ways data brokers can impact democracy. As of early 2018, important details are emerging about how certain organizations used data gathered from data brokers combined with illegally obtained Facebook data to micro-target Americans with various messages during the 2016 U.S.Read More →
Podcast 3 – Data Brokers & Democracy
2018-11-09
CIPPIC intern Dustin Mores explores the role data companies play in elections around the world through an interview with CIPPIC Director David Fewer. The conversation considers the revelations around Cambridge Analytic’s exploitation of Facebook’s platform, but also discusses more broadly political use of data broker services. Theme music: “Cool It”Read More →
Boots that Stalk: How Data Brokers Can Affect the Ads You See Online
2018-11-08
by Dustin Moores “I don’t get it,” my wife said over the phone one blustery November afternoon, “why am I seeing ads for your boots on my work computer?” It was a great question, and the aspiring cyber-sleuth in me wanted nothing more than to find the answer. “Did youRead More →
Podcast 2 – What do data brokers do?
2018-11-01
CIPPIC intern Dustin Mores offers a tour of the different kinds of products offered by data brokers. He goes over each of the three main categories of products: (1) marketing products, (2) risk mitigation products, and (3) “people search” products. Theme music: “Cool It” by Nctrnm, licensed under CC BYRead More →
Podcast 1 – Introduction
2018-11-01
Welcome to CIPPIC’s Data Broker Project Podcasts. In this podcast, CIPPIC Director David Fewer describes our project – why we are studying data brokers, how changes to technology over the past decade have changed the industry, and how we look at data flows. We give a look ahead at whatRead More →
Welcome to CIPPIC’s website for the Data Brokers Project.
2018-11-01
The Data Brokers Project follows up on CIPPIC’s 2006 study of the Canadian Data Brokerage industry. Data brokers, companies “whose primary business involves the trading and analysis of personal information,” are intimately familiar with the personal information of Canadian consumers, but are poorly understood by many consumers themselves. This industryRead More →