range of companies known as 'data brokers' collect and maintain data on hundreds of millions of consumers, which they analyze, package, and sell generally without consumer permission or input." Their main findings were that: Data brokers collect a huge volume of detailed information on hundreds of millions of consumers. Data brokers sell products that identify financially vulnerable consumers. Data broker products provide information about consumer offline behavior to tailor online outreach by marketers. Data brokers operate behind a veil of secrecy. The information produced by data brokers has been criticized for enabling discrimination in pricing, services and opportunities. For example, a May 2014 White House report found that web searches that included black-seeming first names such as Jermaine were more likely to result in ads being displayed that include the word "arrest," compared with web searches including white-seeming first names such as Geoffrey. An Online Information Broker FAQ is published by Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC), a nonprofit consumer organization in the United States. PRC also maintains a list of information brokers, with links to their privacy policies, terms of service, and opt-out provisions. Data brokers have also faced legal charges for security breaches due to poor data security practices. Professional associations The Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP) is a professional association based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with members from 20 countries worldwide, representing both primary and secondary researchers. Fiction Examples of information brokers in contemporary fiction would be the Shadow Broker in the video game series Mass Effect; Nicholas Wayne, Rachel, Elean Duga, Gustav St. Germain, Carol, and the President of the Daily Days newspaper company in Baccano!; or Izaya Orihara in the light novel series Durarara!!. A few of the characters in Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash find work selling data as "stringers" for the Central Intelligence Corporation. Information broker characters play a prominent role in stories published by DC Comics. The character trope is best exemplified by the superhero Oracle, but the trope is later used with the characters Calculator, Proxy, Chloe Sullivan, and Felicity Smoak as well. See also Background check Competitive intelligence Information consultant Information professional Information warfare List broker Microtargeting Narrowcasting PeekYou, a US people-search website Privacy laws of the United States Psychological warfare Price discrimination Spokeo, a US people-search Amazon, an ecommerce platform Facebook, a social media company References Further reading External links "AIIP members are owners of diverse, information-centric businesses located around