You go about your day
Silently a data trail is created, capturing where you go, what you buy. In the background of each of these transactions the records are leveraged and sold.The collectors are all around us.
Almost every contact you have with an automated payment machine, involves a transaction record. The credit industry is one of the biggest collectors and sellers of personal information. As a result, it has interjected itself into the many small transactions we have daily.
There are many tracking systems we encounter every day. Cell phone applications and internet websites lead in the race to record your life. The loyalty card programs gather your individual purchases. These are just a few of the collection points you encounter.

Once enough records are created
You are grouped into lists; the lists are sold over and over. As a human commodity your value grows as information is gathered. Your value as human is mere pennies a transaction into a multi-billion dollar a year business.
All types of data are sold
Some of the lists that have been reportedly sold by data brokers include rape victims, children that experienced sexual abuse and the home address of police officers. Some of the more common lists purchased include people that are predisposed to genetic diseases and disorders and those who have mental illness or alcoholism. ANY ONE CAN BUY THE DATA ABOUT YOU!!!

Opting out is no answer

Do you really trust companies to stop selling your information in the shadows? They have been doing this for years. Just making information not for sale by little websites is not an answer. It has only been since web pages became popular that people found out about the practice.

Regulation legitimizes stealing

Government action should be making the process of stealing our information illegal. Your name is your property and has value to you. If this were any other form of property there would be no discussion.