www.CharlesJeromeWare.com
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned by letter this week (May 7th, 2013) 10 "data brokers", most with a significant online presence, that they may be violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
More than 20 percent of data brokers investigated by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) allegedly violated U.S. privacy law when sharing personal consumer data with FTC workers posing as companies wanting to purchase consumer information without abiding by FCRA requirements.
The ten "data brokers" include: Acxion, Corelogic, Datalogix, eBureau, IDAnalytics, Intelius, Peekyou, Rapleaf, Recorded Future and 4Nannies.
The companies, most of which market their services online and through toll-free phone numbers, appeared to be offering to see consumer data for use in screening job candidates, determining eligibility for insurance or making offers of credit, the F.T.C. reports.
The 10 "data broker" companies were part of a group of 45 organizations that were contacted in an undercover test-shopping operation.
[www.nytimes.com/5-7-2013/Business/ "F.T.C. Warns Data Firm On Selling Information"; www.pcworld.com/article/2038129/ "FTC Sends Warning Letters To 10 Data Brokers"; ftc.gov/opa/2012-12/databrokers.shtm/ "FTC to Study Data Broker Industry's Collection and Use of Consumer Data; www.ft.com (Financial Times)/cms/s/12-18-2012/ "FTC Puts Data Brokers In Spotlight"; 15 U.S.C. 1681, et seq; see Summary, Informal Staff Opinion Letter, Sept. 15, 1999; business.ftc.gov/privacy-and-security/credit-reporting; online.wsj.com (The Wall Street Journal/article/5-7-2013/ "FTC Says Brokers Bid Private Data"]
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