Acxiom is a data broker firm that collects information about consumers by prowling public records, collecting customer surveys and warranty forms, and monitoring credit card purchases. Acxiom then sells this information to marketers in aggregated form to help them target offers to the right customers. If, for example, a marketer wants to promote its credit card to a set of consumers in a high income bracket living in a certain region, the marketer might approach Acxiom for the contact information of the consumers who meet their parameters. For over 40 years Acxiom has collected consumer information, and it’s grown adept at inferring personal information from seemingly anonymous data. For example, the company can use the data stored about you to determine your clothing size and whether you are into gambling. Acxiom maintains a database on about 190 million people and 126 million households in the US and 500 million consumers worldwide. In the midst of our heightened privacy concerns as spurred by the recent NSA scandal, Acxiom began making it a priority to mold its image into one of a transparent company willing to heed your concerns over your privacy.

So when Acxiom announced it would soon make its massive stores of consumer data available online, I expected Acxiom to provide something useful. Lowes Hot Tub HeaterI expected that Acxiom would create a helpful online portal where we could browse through all the interesting data Acxiom has stored on us throughout the years. 2002 Ford Focus Air Conditioning DiagramBut in the end when Acxiom launched its data portal, I found it lacking in genuine care for consumers. Maltese Puppies For Sale Los Angeles CaAcxiom’s new site for viewing the information marketers have on you is nothing more than a way for Acxiom to save face. portal I found a startling question posted in the largest, most distinctive text on the page: “Who are you?”

Considering that this site was designed to give me the scoop on who marketers think I am, this question threw me. Acxiom then launched a spiel about what I can do for marketers: If you want to get the best advertising delivered to you, based on your actual interests, start here. Tell us who you are so we can show you the information used to fuel many of the marketing offers you receive from advertisers using Acxiom’s digital marketing data.” If I “want the best advertising delivered to me?” Acxiom, I thought we were on the same page here: you were going to tell me what marketers knew, and then I was going to tell you to withhold the information that was too creepy. I’m not trying to help you de-clutter my information to make it even easier for marketers to gauge who I am and what I may or may not be interested in having hawked to me. After asking me to authenticate my identity with my name, address, birthday, email address, and the last four digits of my social security number, Acxiom warned me against opting out of its marketing services:

Before You Opt-Out, Consider This: Opting out of Acxiom’s online and/or offline marketing data will not prevent you from receiving marketing materials. Instead of receiving ads that are relevant to your interests, you will see more generic ads with no information to tailor content. For example, instead of getting a great offer on a hotel package in your favorite vacation spot, you might see an ad for the latest, greatest weight loss solution.” Thanks for the heads-up, Acxiom, but your words aren’t exactly true. While Acxiom sure is important in the data brokerage industry, it is not the only firm providing marketers aggregate consumer data. If I opt out of Acxiom’s services, it means I’ll stop receiving tailored offers, all right, but only from Acxiom’s clients. My mailbox will still fill up with credit card offers and coupons made specially for me, only they’ll be delivered through Acxiom’s competitors. For a website that was supposed to help me understand which of my personal information has fallen into the hands of marketers, this site is certainly self-serving.

to lure consumers to approve of its data brokerage services, Acxiom is also using the site to mislead consumers through imprecise language and missing company information. does Acxiom go into detail about its services for marketers and how it uses consumer data, a peculiarity Jeff Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, picked up on. “It does not give an accurate picture of how this works,” Chester told the New York Times. “The language is so innocuous that the average consumer would think there’s no privacy concern.” How can a website designed to inform consumers about their privacy make it seem like privacy is no concern? provides consumers some of the personal information stored about them in Acxiom’s database, it doesn’t provide all of it. According to The New York Times, the site leaves out some data that is available to its corporate clients, including extremely personal information such as whether a person is a ‘potential inheritor’ or whether some has a ‘senior parent.’

, no information was available to them at all. Considering that Acxiom stores about 1,500 data points per person, I’d say it’s more likely the company withholds data than not possess it.In particular, to make its business easier to understand Acxiom needs to do these three things: If Acxiom, the leader of the data brokerage industry, can make its practices more transparent, it could demonstrate to other data brokers how to take the first step toward helping consumers understand what information is being collected about them.Does it meet assuage your privacy concerns? Share with us in the comments section!JUST WATCHEDReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH Story highlightsA recent analysis looked for the most effective diet: Low-fat, low-carb or high-fatResearcher: "None of the diets did particularly well, and after one year, they are all pretty abysmal"There has been reams of research on the subject and the researchers analyzed 53 studies that compared the amount of weight that people had lost one year or more after starting various diets.

The commons types include low-fat diets, such as the popular high-carb diet developed by Dr. Dean Ornish, the low-carbohydrate diet, such as the popular program created by Dr. Robert Atkins, and high-fat diets, such as the Mediterranean menu, which has been shown to have health benefits in addition to weight loss.Related: Health effects of carbs: Where do we stand? The researchers' conclusion to focus on dietary patterns jives with the recent report by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which for the first time suggested a range of types of diets for optimal health (and reduced environmental impact), rather than any one single diet. (Tobias was not involved in the report, but another author of the new study, Dr. Frank Hu, was a member of the committee.)How strong is the science behind the U.S. Dietary Guidelines?Although the committee's report in some ways also marked an exoneration for fat, it still recommended limiting saturated fat to 10% of daily calories and opting for low-fat and no-fat dairy options.