The Cocoon Blog
The Internet as it should be: private, secure and virus free

There are a number of companies that track your movements on the web and sell the information to the highest bidder in real time bidding…

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Krux, in its latest study, found that more than 300 companies collected data about users, up from 167 companies in 2010. The latest figure easily topped the 131 companies that The Wall Street Journal identified in a 2010 survey of tracking on the 50 most-visited websites.

Robert Leshner of SafeShepherd.com recently spoke out about how much of our data is up for grabs and who’s wanting it.

As more privacy organizations, advocates and researchers discover and disclose to the general public what social networks, governments, corporations, data miners/aggregators, advertisers and law enforcement collect; public awareness of the impact of our digital footprints and  invasive online tracking tactics will become exposed.

Data collection volume increased by 400% year-over-year, from an average of 10 collection events per page to 50, and 54% of that activity was entirely beyond publishers’ control (compared to 31% the previous year). -Krux

The reality is there wasn’t a lot of discussion over the years. With credit card companies, phone companies, and others a lot of similar practices have been going on for quite some time. What’s happened here is the lack of transparency. Many other collectors, that are not the site owner themselves, are scraping this data and it’s done in a way that the publisher and the user aren’t aware that it is happening. Some would characterize it as it’s starting to get creepy. -Elinor Mills | c|net

Do you feel that opaque methods of data collection have gone too far? Let us know how you feel by posting your comments here or visit us on Twitter and Facebook.

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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.

You may have read recently that the state of Florida made 63 million dollars in 2010 selling drivers’ names, addresses, dates of birth and what cars they own to employers, insurance companies and such personal data collection firms as LexisNexis. [Source]

According to George Jenkins of I’ve Been Mugged, the companies that purchase Florida drivers’ information include some familiar names: Acxiom Information Securities Service, Inc., Choice Point, E-Funds, Explore Information Services, LexisNexis, Line Barge, Goggan, Blair, & Simpson, Inc., SC Services,ShadowSoft, TLO LLC, and West Services Inc.

Who are the permitted users? Could it be a company such as L2C inc., (owned by Atlanta entrepreneur Mike Mondelli) that has access to more than a billion records detailing consumers’ personal finances?

The information collected by his company, L2C, comes from thousands of everyday transactions that many people do not realize are being tracked, such as auto warranties, cell-phone bills, and magazine subscriptions. It includes purchases of prepaid cards and visits to payday lenders and rent-to-own furniture stores. It knows whether checks have cleared and scours public records for mentions of names.  [Source]

TransUnion is the primary marketing partner for L2C and Equifax is partnered with LexisNexis. In ”fourth bureau” companies there are no standards set for types of data or how it should be used and no registry of whom these companies are. Does this make you wonder where the regulation is and how your data is being used by “fourth bureau” companies? If you live in a state that sells driver license data, should you have the right to opt-out?