When Companies Track Your Life
From large corporations to ‘data brokers,’ there are many companies buying and selling our information. But how are companies using our personal data?
How are companies using our personal data? It is a familiar concern. Online retailers are tracking us so they can sell things to us. Bricks and mortar retailers have loyalty card schemes. Our banks and credit card companies know all about us. And of course, the big computer and telecoms companies could potentially track our internet searches, our phone calls – even our location as we wander around. But this isn’t the first time that large corporations have gathered sensitive data about their customers. We tell the shadowy story of how the personal details of Americans were pooled among insurance companies more than a hundred years ago.
(Photo: A police CCTV camera observes a woman walking. Credit: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Fri 17 Jun 2016 21:50GMT±«Óãtv World Service except East and Southern Africa & News Internet
- Mon 20 Jun 2016 01:50GMT±«Óãtv World Service Americas and the Caribbean
- Mon 20 Jun 2016 02:50GMT±«Óãtv World Service Online, Europe and the Middle East & UK DAB/Freeview only
- Mon 20 Jun 2016 03:50GMT±«Óãtv World Service East Asia & South Asia only
- Mon 20 Jun 2016 04:50GMT±«Óãtv World Service Australasia
- Mon 20 Jun 2016 06:50GMT±«Óãtv World Service Europe and the Middle East & East and Southern Africa only
- Mon 20 Jun 2016 14:50GMT±«Óãtv World Service except News Internet
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