4 ms·

"right now is being sold by hundreds of data brokers to anyone with a credit card." Has anybody tried to actually buy data from a data broker? I haven't found

by bloppe 3y ago

"right now is being sold by hundreds of data brokers to anyone with a credit card." Has anybody tried to actually buy data from a data broker? I haven't found it to be nearly as easy as this makes it seem. Looking for tips / suggestions on brokers who might sell me my own information for decently cheap :) for academic purposes of course... I do like this law tho.

Spooky23 3y ago
When Enfamil Fedex’ed a case of baby formula as a “welcome baby” gift for the child that we lost to a miscarriage, I got pissed off and dug into it. They told me where they got the lost and I bought it for my zip code for $50. So I found out which neighbors were pregnant, had diabetes, were buying a car, etc. The medical information was sourced from “anonymized” insurance subrogation data and prescription data. They were able to correctly identify that my wife was pregnant and project the due date, but didn’t have the diagnosis or the reason for the hospital/OB admission.
- smcin 3y ago
  The prescription data was presumably resold by pharmacies (which?) to data brokers. This was their workaround to sidestep HIPAA ("It's not medical information, it's prescription information"). This is also why pharmacies pester you for your phone number, and to participate in their loyalty programs (don't).
  - Spooky23 3y ago
    As far as I could tell, they could link the hospital admission, OB admission (the hospital runs a separate system for OB) and doctor to the scripts. The RhoGAM was filled by the hospital pharmacy, and other scripts were filled by CVS. My understanding is that "anonymized" data leaks from subrogration and the PBM as well that can be un-anonymized later.
    - smcin 3y ago
      That's shocking
sillystuff 3y ago
Many years ago, I worked for a place that had been buying demographic, contact and mortgage details of ~10,000 S. Californians, per week, who had recent mortgages. I wasn't involved, but was curious and asked about it. They were paying 10 cents per name, and you literally just had to have a credit card / way to get the broker the money. The data was sourced from Experian. So, not only easy, but also cheap.

by bloppe 3y ago

Spooky23 3y ago

When Enfamil Fedex’ed a case of baby formula as a “welcome baby” gift for the child that we lost to a miscarriage, I got pissed off and dug into it. They told me where they got the lost and I bought it for my zip code for $50. So I found out which neighbors were pregnant, had diabetes, were buying a car, etc. The medical information was sourced from “anonymized” insurance subrogation data and prescription data. They were able to correctly identify that my wife was pregnant and project the due date, but didn’t have the diagnosis or the reason for the hospital/OB admission.

smcin 3y ago
The prescription data was presumably resold by pharmacies (which?) to data brokers. This was their workaround to sidestep HIPAA ("It's not medical information, it's prescription information"). This is also why pharmacies pester you for your phone number, and to participate in their loyalty programs (don't).
- Spooky23 3y ago
  As far as I could tell, they could link the hospital admission, OB admission (the hospital runs a separate system for OB) and doctor to the scripts. The RhoGAM was filled by the hospital pharmacy, and other scripts were filled by CVS. My understanding is that "anonymized" data leaks from subrogration and the PBM as well that can be un-anonymized later.
  - smcin 3y ago
    That's shocking

sillystuff 3y ago

Many years ago, I worked for a place that had been buying demographic, contact and mortgage details of ~10,000 S. Californians, per week, who had recent mortgages. I wasn't involved, but was curious and asked about it. They were paying 10 cents per name, and you literally just had to have a credit card / way to get the broker the money. The data was sourced from Experian. So, not only easy, but also cheap.