An intermediary that aggregates, enriches and resells personal and behavioural data, often unbeknown to the persons concerned.
The data broker is a company that collects, aggregates and resells personal and behavioural information on a large scale, interposing itself between the producer of the data and its end user. In insurance, these brokers build risk profiles from multiple sources, which the policyholder never sees, generally cannot contest and discovers only when their premium rises. The scandal revealed in 2024, where the manufacturer General Motors sold its customers' driving data to brokers who passed it to insurers, brought to light this opaque intermediation industry. It led the American federal authority to ban the manufacturer, for five years, from transferring this data to consumer reporting agencies.
A driver sees their premium rise without understanding why, because a data broker holds a driving file on them resold to their insurer, of whose existence they were unaware.
data broker, courtier de données, agence de renseignement sur les consommateurs