外刊阅读 | 卫报 | 你的一天中会接到多少推销电话？

The problem with buying an asset like gold when momentum is on your side is that when the pendulum swings back the other way there is little of substance to support the price.

在势头强劲时购买黄金等资产的问题在于，当钟摆向反方向摆动时，几乎没有实质内容来支撑价格。

How did telemarketers get my number?

电话推销员是如何得到我的电话号码的？

1

Last year, I started getting a lot of unsolicited phone calls, mainly from people trying to sell me things. This came as a surprise because, as a data scientist, I am very careful about what personal information I let out into the world. So I set out to discover what had happened.My investigation took several months. It eventually led me to the labyrinthine world of data brokers.

In today’s digital age, where personal data is a new kind of gold, these companies wield significant power, creating networks where our personal information is shared between brokers and telemarketers as easily as TikTok videos. Their businesses profit from the data they collect, and many of the calls they enable come from scammers.This comes at an enormous cost: in 2023, Australians lost $2.7bn to scams. This highlights the urgent need for stronger privacy protections to limit how our personal data is collected and shared.

In an attempt to address this need, the Australian government this month introduced long-overdue privacy reforms. But these reforms are still inadequate for the many privacy issues affecting people today, including targeting by data brokers and telemarketers.One of the mechanisms designed to protect us from unwanted calls is the Do Not Call Register.Curious, I started tracing the origins of these calls. What I uncovered was a network of hidden connections between data brokers, telemarketers and large organisations – including a major political party. It became clear that simply being on the Do Not Call Register wasn’t enough to protect my privacy.

I started by asking the callers what data they held, and how they had obtained mine.Most callers hung up the moment I started asking questions, until one day I spoke with a man named Paul, who worked in the real estate sector – an industry worth more than $10tn as of 2024. The high-value real-estate market makes our personal data especially valuable to businesses operating within the industry.

My investigation didn’t end there. Eventually, CoreLogic revealed it had purchased my data from Australian data broker firm Smrtr in August 2023. This coincided with the surge in unsolicited calls.Through Smrtr I learned they had purchased my data in 2016 from another data broker, Eight Dragons Digital. Smrtr also admitted to selling my data to various companies – all without my consent.Determined to investigate the origin of my online data trail, I contacted Eight Dragons Digital, which calls itself “a leading global consumer data agency”. It collects personal data for big brands including Energy Australia, Vodafone, NRMA, Nissan, Johnnie Walker, American Express, The Good Guys, and even the Australian Labor party.

Journal：theguardian

Title：How did telemarketers get my number? I uncover the labyrinthine world of Australia’s data brokers(22 Sep 2024)

Category：Privacy

The government’s recent privacy reforms are a small step in the right direction. But until data brokers are required to obtain explicit consent before trading personal information, they fall far short of being a giant leap forward.

政府最近的隐私改革是朝着正确方向迈出的一小步。但是，在数据经纪人被要求在交易个人信息之前获得明确同意之前，这还远远不能算是一大进步。

This was a troubling discovery, because the institutions on which we depend for essentials such as public services, housing and finance – and from which we can’t hide our identities – may be selling our personal information to data brokers, who then pass it along to telemarketers.

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