US to study privacy impact of data brokers
2012-12-19 11:32
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Washington - US regulators on Tuesday ordered data brokers
to turn over information about how they collect and use information about consumers,
in a move hailed by internet privacy activists.
The US Federal Trade Commission said nine firms were ordered
to hand over information that will be used to study privacy practices in the
data broker industry.
The move drew immediate praise from the Centre for Digital
Democracy, a Washington-based group which monitors online privacy.
"Today's action by the FTC will unmask this largely
stealth consumer surveillance industry," the group said on its blog.
"It will shine a powerful regulatory spotlight on such
disturbing practices... Our data is sold to the highest commercial bidder in
milliseconds, who can use the information for almost any purpose - yet it is
unavailable so a consumer can review or challenge it."
The FTC said data brokers are companies "that collect
personal information about consumers from a variety of public and non-public
sources and resell the information to other companies".
The agency said data brokers in some ways help consumers and
the economy by aiding companies prevent fraud, and by providing information to
firms to better market their products and services.
Personal information
But an FTC report earlier this year called on the data
broker industry to improve the transparency of its practices. The agency said
consumers are often unaware of the existence of data brokers as well as the purposes
for which they collect and use data.
The nine data brokers receiving orders from the FTC are
Acxiom, Corelogic, Datalogix, eBureau, ID Analytics, Intelius, Peekyou, Rapleaf
and Recorded Future.
The FTC is seeking details about the nature and sources of
the data collected, how companies use and disseminate the information; and the
extent to which the data brokers allow consumers to access and correct their
information or to opt out of having their personal information sold.
The agency will use the responses it receives to prepare a
study and to make recommendations on privacy practices.
ed the FTC to investigate whether Facebook's data-matching arrangement with Datalogix violates a settlement on privacy.
- SAPA
