Jer Thorp writes: Every 14 minutes, somewhere in the world, an ad exec strides on stage with the same breathless declaration: “Data is the new oil!” It’s exciting stuff for marketing types, and it’s an easy equation: big data equals big oil, equals big profits. It must be a helpful metaphor to frame something that…
Category: Business
Markey, Barton Invite Data Brokers, FTC, Privacy Advocates to Bi-Partisan Congressional Briefing
Just received this press release: WASHINGTON, D.C. – Co-Chairmen of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, Congressmen Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton, (R-Texas) todayinvited nine major data brokers, along with the Direct Marketing Association, to participate in a December 13 Caucus briefing. The purpose of the briefing is to inform Members and the public…
Magazines illegally sold Michigan subscribers’ personal information, lawsuits claim
Gary Ridley reports: Did your subscription to People, Sports Illustrated, Time or other magazines give their publishers the right to sell your personal information? A series of federal lawsuits claim that’s what happening and want it to stop. Three class-action lawsuits on the dockets of federal courts in Flint and Detroit accuse a number of…
Twitter in legal spat with Aussie entrepreneur over data clampdown
Gerry Shih reports: Jodee Rich, the Australian entrepreneur who founded the now defunct telco One.Tel, has won a court order granting him continued access to Twitter’s entire data stream for his analytics firm PeopleBrowsr. The ruling comes as Twitter tightens its grip over the 140-character messages on its network, sparking debate in Silicon Valley over whether…