Lois Beckett

In a highly unscientific but delicious experiment last weekend, 380 New Yorkers gave up sensitive personal information — from fingerprints to partial Social Security numbers — for a cookie.

Though the NSA surveillance has gotten a lot of attention, there’s also a thriving public market for data on individual Americans—especially data about the things we buy and might want to buy.

In a highly unscientific but delicious experiment last weekend, 380 New Yorkers gave up sensitive personal information — from fingerprints to partial Social Security numbers — for a cookie.

Though the NSA surveillance has gotten a lot of attention, there’s also a thriving public market for data on individual Americans—especially data about the things we buy and might want to buy.