A Question for the New York Times

The New York Times has an editorial today about the need for data privacy legislation and about the report that president adviser John Podesta is putting together on big data and privacy. "The president and the public need from Mr. Podesta and his team not only a thorough description of how businesses are collecting private data but also specific legislative proposals to give consumers more control of that information," the Times concludes. The gravamen of the Times's concern is the following:

With the Internet evolving fast, few consumers can adequately guard against losing control of their personal data. A recent report by the majority staff of the Senate Commerce Committee, for example, found that companies known as data brokers have assembled extensive dossiers on millions of individuals and families. Those files include information like web browsing histories, what consumers bought in physical and online stores, and what medical conditions people have.

Data brokers organize and sell that information to retailers, lenders and other businesses that pitch their products to people grouped in categories like “rural and barely making it” and “ethnic second-city strugglers.”

Some of the information is highly personal, if clearly irrelevant to any marketing campaign. A Chicago-area man recently received a marketing offer from OfficeMax that included the line “Daughter Killed in Car Crash” between his name and address, a reference to an accident that took place a year earlier. The company says that the phrase was included in error, but it offers a clue into the kind of data being collected. The Senate report also notes that hackers and identity thieves have stolen or even purchased information from data brokers.

While businesses have a legitimate need for customer information and want new ways to market what they have to offer, they need to operate transparently. And no less important, consumers should have the ability to protect information they consider sensitive.

I agree that companies should be transparent about the way they use data about consumers. So I have a few questions for the New York Times. Is the Times one of those "retailers, lenders, and other businesses" that buys data from data-brokers to market its products to consumers? If so, and if we presume that the Times is probably not focusing on people who are "rural and barely making it," what categories of people is the Times buying data on in order to market the New York Times? And should Podesta propose and Congress enact legislation that would require such disclosures from the New York Times?