Does Your Personal Data Sell Cheaper Than Chewing Gum?
Things are growing faster in our country and so is the data brokerage industry. Selling personal information cheaply to anyone who demands are there key main. So, for now, let’s take data as an oil hence there is an enormous amount of data spill all around us. Your personal data be it your residential address, phone number, email ID, and the marital status for sale on a huge discount. Hence such data is not worth a penny and hence is sold for a price cheaper than chewing gum.
Let’s take some instances of it. Some brokers sell data of about 1 lakh personal residing in places like Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad etc. And some claim to have a list of elites who have the high net worth and are more salaried with there credit card details. Isn’t it scary? The database had all the basic details like name, address, phone number and the whole classification of the Person. Surprisingly this set of data goes for just Rs7000 for a total of INR 1.7 lakh personal as such. After all this reading and going through the instances one may think that it may be a crime and obviously, it can be. How a person can trade information related to a person to someone else. We have procured a database form Bangalore which was a bit different from all the other it contained the information and listing of the product that has been bought in a particular area. And believe me, we contacted a person from the listing to just have a cross-check that Is the information true and to believe both we and the victim were shocked and he also offended to it.
All this indirectly means the same as spying on a person. On an inquiry some of the online seller giants like Amazon and eBay. We came to know a shocking thing. An Amazon spokesperson said that the company was not at all aware of the data leaks and they did not sell any of the customers personal information with anyone.
Some banks are also taking initiatives in educating people’s and making them aware of the data protection and how they can protect themselves for data thefts and online frauds etc.
Now the biggest question arises is that from where do they get this personal data? On asking this question they had a very clear answer that we procure the data from various sources like a Mobile service provider, agents, hospitals and banks etc. But be sure data brokerage isn’t an illegal job but still, it does work in the grey zone.
Now let’s talk about the Global scenario Globally Data Brokerage is an approximately $200 billion industry. Marketing product generates a remarkable 50% revenue. How our data is being collected? When we sign up for a free discount fill out Questionnaire, or you click steam, in general, we all are giving up all the data involuntary with knowing and just accepting the terms and conditions and privacy policy of the respective company. Aftermath of Data Brokerage. The misuse of data is often done mostly the use of financial data like card number and CVV etc.
There is a shocking report that there was an almost 8,689 case of fraud involving Credit Cards and all other stuff.
However, data brokerage is still at a very nascent stage in India. The market is largely dominated by international players like Epsilon, Equifax, Experian that offer a set of more sophisticated data but it costs a bit more.
Also read – Of Course Google Spies On You! Should You Care, Though?
Comment below if you have anything to discuss this topic. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Linkedin.