Overview
Companies and government agencies do not just directly collect data on US citizens and consumers. The data brokerage ecosystem is a vast but understudied form of indirect surveillance: numerous companies both foreign and domestic buy, sell, aggregate, license, and otherwise share sensitive information on American subjects as part of this international, multi-billion-dollar industry. Clients range from advertising firms and insurance providers to US law enforcement agencies and a range of foreign actors, and, as a result, the data brokerage ecosystem has implications for privacy, civil rights, national security, and democracy itself. The Data Brokerage Project, part of Duke’s Privacy & Democracy Project, conducts quantitative and qualitative research on this industry and its effects, producing research and actionable insights for policymakers and the general public.
Media
Justin Sherman, cyber policy fellow and director of data brokerage research project, quoted in The Washington Post: “Wyden urges ban on sale of Americans’ personal data to ‘unfriendly’ foreign governments,” April 15, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/04/15/personal-data-foreign-government-ban/
Justin Sherman’s Lawfare article highlighted by the International Association of Privacy Professionals: “How state laws, FTC can help define ‘data brokers’ in a US privacy law,” April 13, 2021, https://iapp.org/news/a/how-state-laws-ftc-can-help-define-data-brokers-in-a-federal-us-privacy-law/
Recent Publications
Justin Sherman “Report: Data Brokers and Sensitive Data on U.S. Individuals”
Justin Sherman, “Third-Party Code Tracking and U.S. National Security,” Triangle Privacy Research Hub, August 4, 2021, https://www.triangleprivacyhub.org/access-to-information-the-media-trust-and-duke-university/
David A. Hoffman, “Schrems II and TikTok: Two Side of the Same Coin,” North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology, May 4, 2021, https://ncjolt.org/articles/volume-22/volume-22-issue-4/schrems-ii-and-tiktok-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/
Kamran Kara-Pabani and Justin Sherman, “How a Norwegian Government Report Shows the Limits of CFIUS Data Reviews,” Lawfare, May 3, 2021, https://www.lawfareblog.com/how-norwegian-government-report-shows-limits-cfius-data-reviews
Harrison Grant, “The Norwegian Consumer Council’s Work on Large Platforms and Data Transmissions from Mobile Apps,” Triangle Privacy Research Hub, April 28, 2021, http://www.triangleprivacyhub.org/access-to-information-duke-university-and-the-media-trust-april-update/
Justin Sherman, “Data Brokers Are a Threat to Democracy,” WIRED, April 13, 2021, https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-data-brokers-are-a-threat-to-democracy/
Justin Sherman, “Federal Privacy Rules Must Get ‘Data Broker’ Definitions Right,” Lawfare, April 8, 2021, https://www.lawfareblog.com/federal-privacy-rules-must-get-data-broker-definitions-right