The Great Indian Database Bazaar

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Editor's note: We don’t know P from Faridabad. But we do know she bought a red Hidesign handbag on Amazon for Rs 5,196 in cash. She did not apply any coupon for the purchase, getting only a 20% discount on the sticker price. In Hyderabad, C has an active Netflix Premium account and prefers it to Amazon Prime. And then there’s H from Aurangabad. His last order on Zomato was 200 grams of khatta dhokla from Sigdi Restaurant for Rs 242.  These three people (we’ve chosen to keep their identities under wraps) are among the thousands of others whose likes and dislikes we know about.  Over the past week, The Morning Context traced around 50 “data brokers” listed across e-commerce websites and social media platforms such as IndiaMART, Instamojo, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Telegram, who were selling sensitive personal customer information. On sale were databases targeting every section of consumer imaginable. From “CBSE class 12 students” and “borrowers” to “car owners” and “social media influencers”. If you can think of a target group, there’s a database for sale online.   Source: Websites/TMC Research …