Conway, Arkansas  is home to one of the largest processors of consumer data that you have probably never heard of, where every millisecond counts. Acxiom Corporation’s network menu sports more than 23,000 computer servers that collect, collate and analyze consumer data daily.

“It peers deeper into American life than the F.B.I. or the I.R.S., or those prying digital eyes at Facebook and Google. If you are an American adult, the odds are that it knows things like your age, race, sex, weight, height, marital status, education level, politics, buying habits, household health worries, vacation dreams — and on and on.”  (Singer, “NYT”).

The New York Times also reports that Acxiom’s servers process more than 50 trillion data “transactions” a year. Company executives have said its database contains information about 500 million active consumers worldwide, with about 1,500 data points per person. That includes a majority of adults in the United States.

Gizmodo defined Acxiom as the faceless organization that knows everything about you.

“Unsurprisingly, it makes its money by selling its information, to customers like Wells Fargo, HSBC, Toyota, Ford, and even Macy’s. In truth, it will sell data to anyone who can afford to buy it. Business seems to be booming, too: last year, it posted a profit of $77.26 million on sales of $1.13 billion”. –Gizmodo

Marcy Peek, Assistant Professor of Law at Whittier Law School once labeled Acxiom as a Shadow Offender, otherwise known as a data aggregator that escapes notice and legal liability for their handling of personal data.

“Acxiom, which maintains records on 96% of American households, is the largest aggregator of personal data in the world. It gives its corporate customers what it calls “real-time, 360-degree views” into consumers by assigning individuals a 13-digit code. This code tracks us throughout life, and is used to place us into one of 70 lifestyle clusters, which changes as the information Acxiom holds on us is updated.”

Acxiom has a reputation of collecting data better than anyone else. They collect everything including websites, loyalty programs, retail point-of-sale data, self-reported sources, public records,  employment drug testing data, background checks, criminal histories, birth records, education data, vehicle identification numbers, driver’s licenses, marriage  licenses, and you can bet that they know what you feed your dog too.