Devices Spy on You 24 Hours a Day

Personal data sells for billions of dollars
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 2, 2011 2:54 PM CDT
Digital Devices Keep People Under Constant Surveillance
Devices like the iPhone are amassing personal data on users and using it to sell personalized advertising.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Companies are observing nearly every move you make and selling your personal data for billions of dollars—and Washington appears helpless to stop them, the Los Angeles Times reports. Whether it's your smart phone, cable box, Facebook page, or video game, devices are amassing reams of data on your location, viewing habits, personal tastes, and much more. "Essentially, each of us is being tailed," says a digital rights advocacy lawyer.

Experts say it's all about the money. Yahoo earns almost all of its annual $6 billion income from online advertising—much of it "personalized"—and one analyst says that location-based services such as Groupon will mushroom into an $8.3 billion business in three years. State and federal lawmakers have hammered out regulations to rein in personal data collection, but so far none have passed. Meanwhile, some experts fear that people will stop expressing themselves online: "It's too much of a feeling of being constantly watched and judged," says one. (More surveillance stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X