Gathering of personally identifiable information

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The gathering of personally identifiable information (PII) is the practice of collecting public and private personal data that can be used to identify an individual for both legal and illegal applications. PII owners often view PII gathering as a threat and violation of their privacy. Meanwhile, entities such as information technology companies, governments, and organizations use PII for data analysis of consumer shopping behaviors, political preference, and personal interests.

With the development of new information technology, PII is easier to access and share than before. The use of smartphones and social media has contributed to the widespread usage of PII gathering. PII is collected anywhere and anytime. The dissemination of personal data makes PII gathering a hotly debated social issue.^[1]

Recent illegal PII gathering by data collection companies, such as Cambridge Analytica on Facebook of over 87 million users, has caused increasing concern over privacy violation and has renewed call for more comprehensive data protection laws. Major security breaches at Equifax, Target, Yahoo, Home Depot, and the United States Office of Personnel Management impacted personal and financial information of millions of American, with calls for increasing information technology security and protection of PII data by businesses and governmental agencies.^[2]