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Companies generate massive profits from people’s information, with experts describing user data as “the new oil”.
Some of these companies are household names but many are unknown, with one analyst comparing the relationship between companies and users as “David vs Goliath”.
Is there anything you can do about it, or are you resigned to having companies know all about you – and make money on it?
How companies collect data
Sam Jones, founder of Gener8, a company that helps users make money from their own data online, told our Money team how companies farmed data on users.
“Companies collect data about people through a range of methods, many of which operate quietly in the background as we go about our daily lives,” he said.
“Most of us have heard of ‘cookies’, but perhaps many of us don’t realise that a ‘cookie’ is really another word for a tracker.
“And when you click ‘accept’ on a cookie banner, you are not just allowing the website you are on to track you, but often you’re allowing hundreds of different companies who are hidden in the website terms and conditions.”
Other methods of data collection include (but are not limited to):
• Pixels: Tiny images embedded on websites and emails that track activity;
• Device fingerprinting: Sites gather device-specific information (for example, screen size, browser type, font type) to create a unique way to identify it;
• And mobile apps: Many include third-party software that sends data to other companies about users – this can be location or usage habits for example.
There are also companies known as data brokers that compile information about users that can be sold to advertisers, insurers or even political groups.
“In the end, users are frequently handing over significant amounts of data without fully realising the scale of what’s being collected, how it’s being used, or who it’s being shared with,” Jones told Money.
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