Big Brother, Big Business
Every day, technology is being deployed to monitor Americans with unprecedented discretion — from driving habits to workplace surveillance. Purchasers and guests are observed and analyzed; Internet searches are monitored and used as evidence in court. This is a big business that collects most of the data about us. But increasingly it is the government that is using it.
In “Big Brother,” a special Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET and midnight ET, CNBC takes a look at the companies behind a powerful personal information business and the people whose lives have been affected, including: A man who lost his job Women due to confusion; man’s cellphone records stolen by his former employer; woman’s personal information stolen by a company she’d never heard of; man discovers his every move is being tracked by his rental car company .
The documentary also explores how biometrics are used by the FBI, Border Patrol, law enforcement, and schools to verify identities, and provides insight into the inner workings of the AOL division that works to satisfy law enforcement requests for information about AOL members .
