The Site That Shows You All The Personal Data Advertisers Have On You Isn't Entirely Accurate

Flickr / CarbonNYCAn experiment in transparency by one of the largest marketing data brokers has had some interesting results.

Acxiom's Aboutthedata.com, which allows you to view the personal details that the company stores about you in its marketing databases, has sparked a discussion about the inaccuracy of some of its information.

CNN Money's Melanie Hicken, for example, reported that her profile indicated that she was a 26-year-old mother of two teenagers, "which is just about biologically impossible."

Acxiom, which is still in beta, blames the discrepancies on its wide variety of sources, including slowly updated public records and surveys that aren't lie-proof. The company's stance: incorrect data is no worse for marketing and advertising purposes than no data.

"Nobody said it would be perfect," a company spokesperson said an email to Business Insider. "What Acxiom has done here is start a movement toward transparency that others will have to follow."

Aboutthedata.com was down for at least an hour this afternoon, but is up-and-running again now. Acxiom engineering caught "something irregular" and pulled the site to investigate, according to a spokesperson.