Kevin Collier reports:
A Duke University report found 11 data brokers agreed to sell information that identified people by issues, including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder and often sorted them by demographic information.
There is nothing new or particularly newsworthy in the findings. This has been going on forever. PogoWasRight’s early blog on a different platform even demonstrated that in a 2008 report on a breach involving WellPoint that showed data on patients sorted in other schemas.
Leads marketing has been and continues to be big business. Pharmaceutical companies want to know to whom to pitch their drugs, and DME firms want to know whom to call to offer back braces, knee supports, respiratory equipment, etc. And with email available, lists of leads with email addresses can also be monetized.
We don’t need more studies demonstrating what is already known. We need serious action to stop or control it because that information can be used in ways that harm people.
Yes, I diverted from discussing the Duke study and Collier’s reporting. You can go read his report at NBC, but remember that this is NOT a new problem at all. It is an old and ongoing problem that the government still needs to address adequately.