Feds urge Congress to spank online brokers that prey on your data | VentureBeat | Security | by Richard Byrne Reilly
Summary
Now, the FTC is urging Congress to enact legislation that will give Americans access to the information brokers are buying and selling after making a tacit admission that few, if any, laws protect citizens against these practices. The FTC interviewed nine online data brokers for the study: Acxiom, CoreLogic, Datalogix, eBureau, ID Analytics, Intelius, PeekYou, Rapleaf, and Recorded Future. As it stands now, all of the information that brokers collect — your hair color, dog name, bra size, or religious interests — is being collated, packaged, stored, and sold, largely without your consent or knowledge. The feds new study coincides with the FTC’s assertions in March it will begin going after companies in the mobile sector for basically the same reasons outlined in today’s report. The FTC told VentureBeat that the mobile space is largely unregulated and pointed to companies violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, as targets.
