A report featured by the Electronic Privacy Information Center and originally tied to CalMatters examines commercial data collection. The report names Disney, General Motors, insurers and banks among the buyers of consumer personal data assembled by data brokers.
The available excerpt quotes Justin Sherman, EPIC scholar-in-residence and former Duke University data-broker researcher, saying data brokers broadly rely on three types of data. It identifies inferences as one type; the remaining categories are not given in the excerpt. No second source is included for comparison.
For readers concerned about privacy, the piece is a reminder that ordinary commercial relationships may put personal information into broker databases. It does not, in the text provided, include new legislative proposals or regulatory findings.