The Financial Times published the list of prices of users’ data, as well as the list of companies that sell this kind of information. As it appears, “wholesale commodity” for a dossier with the basic information (name, sex, age, and location) of a person is quite inexpensive – only $0.0005.
Information on the income and purchase histories cost twice as much (about $0,001). However, the price may vary depending on the importance of the collected data. But the price never gets more than $1.
According to The Financial Times, website LeadsPlease.com offers information on those with cancer or diabetes ($0.26 per person). Moreover, wholesalers get discount prices. The company claims receiving data from the users themselves.
Company named “Data” sells user information and sorts it out by the paying capacity and the quality of credit history. Since “Data” holds official information on the majority of children born in the U.S., it provides information about their mothers.
The Financial Times experts say that great deal of attention must be paid to the existing flaws in legislation responsible for the protection of personal data. In most cases, collecting and trading private information is legitimate.
