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https://theconversation.com/this-law-makes-it-illegal-for-companies-to-collect-third-party-data-to-profile-you-but-they-do-anyway-190758>
"A little-known provision of the Privacy Act makes it illegal for many
companies in Australia to buy or exchange consumers’ personal data for
profiling or targeting purposes. It’s almost never enforced. In a research
paper published today, I argue that needs to change.
“Data enrichment” is the intrusive practice of companies going behind our backs
to “fill in the gaps” of the information we provide.
When you purchase a product or service from a company, fill out an online form,
or sign up for a newsletter, you might provide only the necessary data such as
your name, email, delivery address and/or payment information.
That company may then turn to other retailers or data brokers to purchase or
exchange extra data about you. This could include your age, family, health,
habits and more.
This allows them to build a more detailed individual profile on you, which
helps them predict your behaviour and more precisely target you with ads.
For almost ten years, there has been a law in Australia that makes this kind of
data enrichment illegal if a company can “reasonably and practicably” request
that information directly from the consumer. And at least one major data broker
has asked the government to “remove” this law.
The burning question is: why is there not a single published case of this law
being enforced against companies “enriching” customer data for profiling and
targeting purposes?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
