Your data privacy may hinge on FTC suit

+ how Biden and Trump act alike US Edition - Today's top story: Data brokers know everything about you – what FTC case against ad tech giant Kochava reveals [View in browser]( US Edition | 12 January 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Top headlines - [Is the age of high inflation over?]( - [Why Gen Z loves libraries]( - [TGIQT – Thank God It’s Quiz Time]( Lead story The Federal Trade Commission has gone to the mat with a company you’ve probably never heard of: Kochava. The company is a major player in the shadowy data broker market. Kochava and its competitors collect data about you, me and just about everyone else in the country, mostly via apps on our phones. It processes the data using powerful artificial intelligence algorithms and sells the revealing information to customers large and small. How revealing? Like whether you have visited “reproductive health clinics, places of worship, homeless and domestic violence shelters, and addiction recovery facilities,” according to the FTC’s complaint. University of Richmond legal scholar Anne Toomey McKenna [explains what the FTC’s suit reveals]( about the scale of their data surveillance and what the outcome means for your data privacy. [[How faith and religion drive the world. Sign up for our weekly newsletter, This Week in Religion.](] Eric Smalley Science + Technology Editor The data collectors see all. DrAfter123/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images [Data brokers know everything about you – what FTC case against ad tech giant Kochava reveals]( Anne Toomey McKenna, University of Richmond It’s no surprise that corporations harvest vast amounts of data about people, but documents in an FTC lawsuit detail the stunning amount that data brokers know about you and everyone else. Economy + Business - [When can we stop worrying about rising prices? The latest inflation report offers no easy answers]( D. Brian Blank, Mississippi State University; Brandy Hadley, Appalachian State University Two important inflation indicators are trending in different directions. What gives? - [Paraguay’s Ciudad del Este: Efforts to force a busy informal commercial hub to follow global trade rules have only made life harder for those eking out a living]( Jennifer L. Tucker, University of New Mexico A smuggling crackdown has threatened the livelihoods of the people who are just scraping by in this South American arbitrage economy. Arts + Culture - [Gen Z and millennials have an unlikely love affair with their local libraries]( Kathi Inman Berens, Portland State University; Rachel Noorda, Portland State University Though they’re sometimes characterized as attention-addled homebodies, younger people see a real value in libraries − one that goes beyond books. 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Environment + Energy - [Laundry is a top source of microplastic pollution – here’s how to clean your clothes more sustainably]( Judith Weis, Rutgers University - Newark Your washing machine is polluting the ocean. - [Not all carbon-capture projects pay off for the climate – we mapped the pros and cons of each and found clear winners and losers]( Volker Sick, University of Michigan The combination of the source of the CO₂ and its end use determines its environmental and economic benefits or consequences. Podcast 🎙️ - [Interoception: the sixth sense we use to read hidden signals from our body]( Gemma Ware, The Conversation Neuroscientis Sarah Garfinkel on why interoception can help explain the intergration between the body and the brain – and our emotions. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast. 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