Editing Data broker (section)

=== In the United States ===
Data brokers in the United States include [[LiveRamp|Acxiom]], [[Experian]], [[Alliance Data#Epsilon|Epsilon]], [[CoreLogic]], [[Datalogix]], [[Intelius]], [[PeekYou]], [[Exactis]], and [[Recorded Future]].<ref name="Government of the United States" /><ref name="commerce.senate.gov">http://educationnewyork.com/files/rockefeller_databroker.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> In 2012, Acxiom claimed to have files on  about 500 million active consumers worldwide, with about 1,500 data points per person <ref>{{Cite news |last=Singer |first=Natasha |date=16 June 2012 |title=Acxiom, the Quiet Giant of Consumer Database Marketing |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/technology/acxiom-the-quiet-giant-of-consumer-database-marketing.html |access-date=22 March 2019}}</ref> and, in 2023, Acxiom (renamed LiveRamp) claims to have files on 2.5 billion people and over 3,000 data points per person.<ref name="Acxiom sales brochure">{{cite web |title=Acxiom sales brochure |website=Acxiom |url=https://marketing.acxiom.com/rs/982-LRE-196/images/Acxiom%20Global%20Data.pdf |access-date=3 August 2023}}</ref><ref name="Acxiom Launches Marketplace to Drive Smarter Campaigns">{{cite web |title=Acxiom Launches Marketplace to Drive Smarter Campaigns |website=Acxiom |url=https://www.acxiom.com/news/acxiom-launches-marketplace-to-drive-smarter-campaigns/ |access-date=3 August 2023}}</ref> The company [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]] has publicly noted it has connections with 80 data broker companies. The [[United States Department of Homeland Security|US Department of Homeland Security]] has purchased cell phone location data and home utility data from data brokers to facilitate [[deportation]]s. The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) has purchased personal data from the company Venntel. Under both of these circumstances, a [[Search warrant|warrant]] is not required to acquire this data, due to the fact that it is "open source" or "commercially obtained".<ref name=":2" /> Use of the data also has implications in [[background check]]s (used in rent/housing and job applications).<ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine |last=Sherman |first=Justin |title=Data Brokers Are a Threat to Democracy |url=https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-data-brokers-are-a-threat-to-democracy/ |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028 |access-date=25 January 2022}}</ref>

In 2012, [[Spokeo]], a people search website, settled with the [[Federal Trade Commission|US Federal Trade Commission]] for $800,000 over violations of the [[Fair Credit Reporting Act]].<ref name="Matsakis">{{Cite magazine |last=Matsakis |first=Louise |title=The ''Wired'' Guide to Your Personal Data (and Who Is Using It) |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/story/wired-guide-personal-data-collection/ |access-date=15 April 2022 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref>

In 2017, [[Cambridge Analytica]] claimed that it has psychological profiles of 220 million United States citizens, based on 5,000 separate data sets,<ref name="InkJun2017">{{Cite news |author=Govind Krishnan V. |date=3 June 2017 |title=Aadhaar in the hand of spies Big Data, global surveillance state and the identity project |publisher=Fountain Ink Magazine |url=https://series.fountainink.in/aadhaar-in-the-hand-of-spies |url-status=dead |access-date=27 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826163725/https://series.fountainink.in/aadhaar-in-the-hand-of-spies/ |archive-date=26 August 2017 }}</ref> with another source reporting 230 million.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cadwalladr |first=Carole |date=18 March 2018 |title='I made Steve Bannon's psychological warfare tool': meet the data war whistleblower |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/data-war-whistleblower-christopher-wylie-faceook-nix-bannon-trump |access-date=22 March 2019 |website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> A scandal emerged after it was found that after 270,000 [[Facebook]] users consented to sharing their data, data was scraped from about 50 million profiles on the social media platform. This was seen as breach of trust by Facebook.<ref>{{cite web |last=Glum |first=Julia |date=22 March 2018 |title=Was Your Facebook Data Actually 'Breached'? Depends On Who You Ask |url=https://money.com/facebook-data-breach-experts/ |access-date=12 March 2021 |website=Money |archive-date=28 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228043628/https://money.com/facebook-data-breach-experts/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2018, American companies spent $19 billion acquiring and analyzing consumer data, according to the [[Interactive Advertising Bureau]].<ref name="Matsakis"/>

In 2021, ''[[The Pillar]]'' outed a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[priest]] by purchasing data from a data broker including data usage from [[Grindr]].<ref name=":2"/>