Why would Credit Karma need to sell your data to other companies? Other companies already have the same high level access to your credit without you giving them permission to it.
Credit Karma tries to sell you services based on your credit.
Companies like Credit Karma or even companies like Facebook and Google don’t sell your data. They sell access to you based on the data they have.
The distinction makes a big difference. If a law is passed saying that a company is not allowed to give out your data, it doesn’t really hurt companies.
The whole idea that companies like Facebook, Google or Credit Karma “sell user data” is a misnomer. Companies don’t sell user data, they sell access to you based on the data they have. The distinction is important. They don’t give third parties a list of users that meet a certain criteria, companies tell them that they want to advertise to users who meet a certain criteria.
It might seem like I’m being pedantic, but companies like CK don’t usually sell your data to companies. It wouldn’t be good business.
The companies have certain parameters for who they want to advertise to and CK shows you ads and gets a commission. Your data would only be shared if you initiated a transaction with the advertiser.
Whether that makes the situation better is a judgment call. But, your data is never shared without your permission.
That’s one misconception (or misnomer) about Facebook and Google. They don’t “sell or give away your data”. They sell access to you based on your data. The distinction is important if we want to pass laws limiting what they can do with your data. If there was a law passed saying they couldn’t “share your data” they would just shrug.
So instead of sharing data with your friends, family and a corporation you just want to share it with a corporation? Someone already has your online data the only difference is who that someone is. That someone can still choose to sell your data on to anyone who will buy it in most countries.
Thats not relevant of what they could do. This laws covers what you are doing and applies to entities selling your data. Big ad players don't sell their data because that is their secret sauce in ad targeting.
Companies selling your data are your bank(credit card purchases), mobile carriers(location), your DMV(photos, driving record, misc PII including address, dob etc), state/county government(public records like marriage licenses). Its weird everyone bashes on google and FB for something they don't even do.
I've heard, it's usually not in the interest of companies like Google and Facebook to sell raw data. It's much better for them to keep control of the data and sell it's use as a service.
Credit card providers most certainly sell your data. Data brokers have detailed profiles on everyone. They don't anonymize anything when their whole business is selling names and addresses of hyper-specific demographics.
Yet another example of individual customers not being companies' real clients.
As long as there are organizations willing to pay millions/billions for a company's customers' data, that data will eventually be sold/licensed/shared/etc to them. Companies would be leaving money on the table otherwise, and shareholders won't have that.
For Facebook to be selling my data, it isn't necessary that they email a data broker some spreadsheet of my personal data. Selling advertisers access to an incredibly intimate and private picture of my personal life so that they can best exploit my specific life circumstances to unduly influence me is exactly what bothers me about Facebook "selling my data."
To claim that Facebook isn't selling my data is a semantic distinction without a difference at best, and just downright dishonest at worst.
Are you really claiming that an amoral company whose sole responsibility is to produce income made a deal to produce income at the expense of user privacy? How could anyone have seen this coming?
If you trust your data to a company it will be sold. That goes for Facebook, Google, and any other major company.
Credit Karma tries to sell you services based on your credit.
Companies like Credit Karma or even companies like Facebook and Google don’t sell your data. They sell access to you based on the data they have.
The distinction makes a big difference. If a law is passed saying that a company is not allowed to give out your data, it doesn’t really hurt companies.
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