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INFORMATION BROKER INDUSTRY
Description
of issue. In previous
sections, I discussed some of the privacy-related
issues regarding the growing information broker
industry. This industry is virtually unregulated
except for the background check requirements
in the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
A
set of voluntary guidelines was adopted by the
information broker industry in conjunction with
the Federal Trade Commission in 1997. But the guidelines
are weak and have resulted in no meaningful privacy
protections for U.S. consumers. In addition, the
industry group that developed the guidelines, the
Individual Reference Services Group, has since
disbanded.
Looking
ahead. An incident
from the November 2000 election illustrates
what can go wrong when information broker data
files are improperly used to make critical
decisions about individuals. The Florida Secretary
of State Division of Elections contracted with
Database Technologies (DBT), a division of
Choicepoint, to check its voter rolls against
the data compiled by DBT. Many individuals
were wrongly identified as being felons, and
turned away at the polls. The original "scrub
list," as it was called, included nearly 60,000
names. One county that checked each of the
700 names on its list could only verify 34
as former felons. ("Ex-Con Game," by Greg Palast, Harper's
Magazine, March 2002).
Without
the effective regulation of this industry, a significant
number of individuals are going to suffer privacy
violations, lost job opportunities, ruined reputations,
and discrimination. So far, the information broker
industry has been effective in preventing laws
from being passed on the federal level.
Read the entire aricle here: http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/Privacy-IssuesList.htm
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