Your personal data is precious, and it is at the heart of a coveted market governed by data brokers. Companies that make their money on your back without you even knowing it.
BidSwitch, Bookyourdata, RocketReach, Swordfish… Names that probably mean nothing to you. However, there is a possibility that these companies know a lot about you. How ? Quite simply because they have tens or even hundreds of information about you in their databases. Little known to the general public, these companies are called data brokers (information brokers).
Specialized in the collection and resale of personal information, they have implemented a business model that can infringe the privacy of Internet users. In 2019, Numerama had already raised the problem related to data brokers and their nebulous modus operandi via a two-part survey. More recently it is Cash Investigation who took up the subject.
Data brokers and their operation are beginning to emerge from the shadows, and it is now possible, thanks to the GDPR, to regain control of your personal data. Various cybersecurity players are also taking up the subject, such as Surfshark and its Incogni service.
Who are the data brokers?
Targeted advertisements, unwanted newsletters, calls from telemarketers… It’s a safe bet that these interactions mainly come from the resale of your personal information by a data broker.
Behind this term hides a set of companies whose goal is to collect the most personal data (up to 1,500 points per person) to trade in it. In their registers sleep data as sensitive as your address (email or postal), your Social Security number, your age or your online shopping habits. This data is then sold to companies that will use it, in particular to display targeted advertising to you.
In order to retrieve this data, data brokers use several methods, the most common being to buy entire databases from other companies. For example, it is very easy to obtain Facebook user profiles, or transaction statements from a bank. A practice that is not limited to the net, since some physical establishments can also resell their information to data brokers. Filling out a loyalty card form is therefore not as trivial an act as it seems…
Is there a way to take action against data brokers?
Just because data brokers shamelessly exploit your personal data doesn’t mean you can’t do anything. Quite the contrary even. Since 2018, the GDPR has strictly regulated the circulation, processing and storage of data collected by companies. The right to be forgotten has notably been strengthened, allowing each person, on simple request, to have their data hosted by a company X or Y deleted.
If this legal device makes it possible to counter data brokers, and prevent your personal data from being used against you, its execution does however come up against a few obstacles. This makes the process painful and extremely time-consuming for the average person. A veritable obstacle course that begins quite simply with the identification of data brokers.
These are often companies little known to the general public. There are also hundreds of companies capable of hosting your data. Flushing them out and contacting them one by one is therefore extremely time-consuming. Especially since you then have to follow up with the companies leaving your request behind. Incogni estimates that it typically takes 300 hours for a normal individual to complete this task.
Information and time are key elements in this fight against data brokers, and these are two resources that are sometimes difficult to bring together. To make matters worse, some data brokers do not hesitate to frighten people who request the withdrawal of their data, hoping that the requester abandons the procedure.
How Incogni helps you take back control of your personal data
To help you remove your personal data from the files of data brokers, Incogni proposes to carry out all the steps in your place and place. How ? By asking you for a delegation of power, which allows him to act on your behalf.
The delegation obeys a strict legal framework, limited to the mission that you entrust to it, and only it. This principal cannot therefore be diverted to other purposes, and ends once the mission has been carried out.
Thanks to this delegation of power, Incogni can thus legitimately:
- search for data brokers likely to possess your data;
- contact the data brokers on your behalf to ask them to erase your data (if they have it);
- put in place the necessary means to encourage data brokers to erase your data if they are reluctant;
- ensure regular monitoring to ensure that your data does not reappear on the net or with data brokers.
How does Incogni proceed?
To begin with, and in a rather paradoxical way given the mission you entrust to it, Incogni will ask you for some personal information: first and last name, postal address, email. These are used to identify the data brokers likely to have your data, and to draw up a list of companies to contact.
After this preliminary step, Incogni will send a first round of requests to delete your personal data, and wait for the response from the data brokers. For your part, you can follow the progress of the various procedures through a simplified dashboard. Legally, the companies contacted have between 30 and 45 days to comply and it is therefore “normal” for the process to take a little time.
In the event of non-response, or even refusal from a company, Incogni then takes care of sending follow-up letters. The service can also, if the need arises, seize the CNIL to force the most recalcitrant data brokers to do what is necessary.
If you want to take advantage of Incogni’s services to regain control of your personal data, please note that the service is available in two forms :
- a monthly subscription, offered at 11.49 euros;
- an annual subscription offered at 69.48 euros, or 5.79 euros per month, which represents a saving of 50% compared to the monthly subscription.
This is content created by freelance writers within the Humanoid xp entity. Numerama’s editorial team did not participate in its creation. We are committed to our readers to ensure that this content is interesting, qualitative and corresponds to their interests.
