Third Party Personal Information Disclosure

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There are many ways personal information is collected. The companies who receive this information buy/sell personal information for marketing and advertising purposes but cyber-crimes can occur when personal information is transmitted through cyberspace. Communication professionals utilize technology a great deal in their work and they want to know their work and personal information is protected by Federal Law, Common-Law and Statutes.

It is alarming to think of a person or company buying and selling one’s personal information. Big Brother Gets A Makeover: Behavioral Targeting And The Third-Party Doctrine (Brotherton, 2012, p. 555), points out “What few Internet users realize is that, during the time they surf the Web, they are subjected to constant surveillance by potentially hundreds of different private companies.” In today’s online environment and new technology, it is clear this type of activity happens all the time.

Third-party data brokers are companies that buy and sell personal information obtained from mobile phones, financial institutions and social media sites. The information these companies obtain is used to sell to other companies for advertising and other business related purposes. These are not small companies but huge corporations making a lot of money from people’s personnel information. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recommends that Congress create consumer targeting legislation to provide better transparency over the practices of data brokers. The FTC noted the lack of transparency regarding the practices of data brokers, who often buy and share large amounts of personal information about consumers. Consumers are often unaware of the existence of data brokers, as well as the purposes for collec...

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Kerr, O. S. (2010). Applying The Fourth Amendment To The Internet: A General Approach. Stanford Law Review, 62(4), 1005-1049. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/224083788?accountid=3783

Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties. The United States Department of Justice. http://www.justice.gov/opcl/index.html

Schneier, Bruce. (May 2005). Risks of Third-Party Data Communication. ACM 48, 5, 136-. DOI=10.1145/1060710.1060744 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1060710.1060744

Schwartz, Matthew. (April 7, 2011). Pandora Transmits Mass Quantities of Personal Data. http://www.informationweek.com/security/mobile/pandora-transmits-mass-quantities-of-per/229401147

State Laws Related to Internet Privacy. National Conference of State Legislatures. http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/telecom/state-laws-related-to-internet-privacy.aspx

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