Protect Yourself Against Election Data Brokers | Avast

Protect Yourself Against Election Data Brokers | Avast
David Strom, 28 October 2020

How to stay protected against middlemen who sell your data collections



By now, many of you know that your online shopping and social media usage patterns can be tracked and recorded. This includes data about your political preferences, which is especially relevant given the approaching elections.
In previous posts, we have discussed these implications – either by abuses such as scraping your social media accounts and the use of browser canvas fingerprinting techniques. Both can and have been abused by several data collectors and brokers. Here are several tips on how to take control over your digital identity.
In this post, we examine these brokers and what you can do about protecting yourself with a new feature added recently to Avast’s BreachGuard software.
What are data brokers?
Data brokers are companies that collect and bundle your information to third parties interested in targeting you as a consumer, a buyer, and sometimes your political affiliation in advance of an election. They are in business to sell this information, which usually includes your full name, age, gender, email address, phone number, date of birth, place of residence, personal interests, buying habits, education level, income and other personal details. You would think this wouldn’t be legal, but you would be wrong.
The brokers combine data from various online tracking programs along with access to public records: if you own a home, have a police record, or haven’t paid your taxes, this data will find its ..

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