US government involvement seems unlikely in the near-term. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC),
the US government agency tasked with regulating this industry, admitted it doesnt even know how
many data brokers exist, nor how to regulate them
. But the FTC did conclude in its report Data
Brokers: A Call For Transparency and Accountability that the need for consumer protections in this
area has never been greater.
In sum the situation is as follows:
● Companies need precise personal data from consumers to develop successful and innovative new
products and services, and to better target their marketing and sales activities.
● Right now, users willingly provide either very little data or mostly fake data to protect their data
privacy.
● The reason consumers worry about their data privacy is that data brokers are surreptitiously
collecting, analyzing and packaging sensitive personal data and selling it as a commodity.
● Lack of precise personal data from consumers contributes to the fact that 70-80% of all product
innovations fail, which in turn what leads to annual failed investments of more than 12 billion
USD.