Acxiom

A few weeks ago I picked up a copy of the New York Times in a pub in Brighton.

In the pages I read an article about a company called Acxiom, responsible for gathering private data on consumers and storing it, later selling it to other parties.

The New York Times article is good, but the one in The Week is a little better.

There seems to be near universal concern in the comments section that a US firm (don't worry, they're operating in the UK too and ) is gathering so much data on consumers (that's all of us), clearly without our previous knowledge and is then selling that data on to others. A more general concern is that what we buy doesn't remain between us and the company from whom we made the purchase. So, obviously, if you're buying loads of pornographic magazines and DVDs and/or have a subscription to 'Fascist Weekly Gazette', stop it, but then, as a Catholic I'm meant to encourage people to do that anyway.

Apparently, this company puts G4S, Facebook, the CIA, MI5 and the rest into the pale on what they know about us. Thank God its not the Government, because we know we can trust faceless multinational corporations with our data. Thanks to the New York Times for letting us know, but I dare say that there's diddly squat we can do about it and I haven't even got a Nectar card. I'm sure they know that already, that'll be why the guy at the till keeps asking me if I've got one and if not would I like one. Next time I'm in Sainsbury's I'll tell him to call Acxiom!