Data brokers and intellectual property: a call for comments

From Katfriend Alexandra Mezulanik (currently completing an internship in The Bahamas at a boutique IP firm, Mosko & Associates) comes the following invitation:

Occasionally there is a window that allows one to see how far the law trails technology. One of these windows took the form of an American television news magazine programme called 60 Minutes (here and here). The programme broadcasts on Sunday evenings via the CBS television network and has the knack of making you feel effortlessly well-informed.

Back in August 2014, 60 Minutes aired this story on data brokers, in whiche Steve Kroft investigated “the multibillion-dollar industry that collects, analyzes and sells the personal information of millions of Americans with virtually no oversight”. The focus on data brokers took into account privacy, advertising, online identifiers and geo-location data.

The content of this news piece left me curious as to what sort of spillover (if any) the development of data brokers will have on intellectual property. As the law already struggles to keep up with information technology, I wanted to address the issues (as I see them: you can access my piece here or download it here) so that other IPKat readers can add their comments. I hope more people will participate in the discussions to help shape this under explored area.

Says the IPKat, Alex's piece looks very much like work in progress, or "thoughts in progress", and the legal, commercial and policy aspects of this topic are much bigger than any eight-page summary can do justice to. Do spare the time to give Alex the benefit of your thoughts, if only in terms of suggested further reading and pointers towards issues she might not yet have had the chance to ponder.

Stop Data Mining Me here
"Everything we know about what data brokers know about you" on Pro Publica here
"Facebook: the new king of data brokers?" on Wired here
How to choose an information broker here
Certification for information brokers here