Consumer agency seeks to limit data sales, combat “digital surveillance”

Marketplace Tech

American Public Media

Technology, News

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2024

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As consumers, we leave trails of personal data all over the internet. And collecting and selling it is big business. Sensitive information, like our Social Security numbers, incomes and credit scores, are often sold by so-called data brokers to the highest bidder. Sometimes that’s a bank, sometimes it’s a scammer. This month, the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule that would crack down on the practice. It would bar companies from selling sensitive data or hold them to the same legal standards that apply to credit reporting agencies. Rohit Chopra, director of the CFPB, explained the proposal in more detail to Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino.

Transcript

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0:00.0	A government watchdog has its eye on companies that sell our social security numbers.
0:08.1	From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty Carrino. As consumers, we leave a trail of personal data all over the internet, and collecting and selling it is big business.
0:31.6	Sensitive information like social security numbers, incomes, and credit scores are often sold by data brokers to the highest bidder,
0:40.3	whether that's a bank or a scammer.
0:43.5	Well, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed a new rule that would crack down on that
0:49.2	practice.
0:49.7	It would bar companies from selling sensitive data or hold them to the same legal standards as credit reporting agencies.
0:58.0	Here to explain is Rohit Chopra, director of the CFPB.
1:02.4	About 60, 70 years ago, we actually had the same problem of private detectives and other investigators researching all of us and creating
1:16.3	files for sale about us. And people were really nervous about what could happen if this data
1:23.8	was misused or if it had inaccurate information. That's why when it comes to your credit
1:30.4	report, you have the right to look at it. You have the right to dispute incorrect information,
1:38.5	and the companies creating them must make sure that the information in them is accurate.
1:48.1	So data brokers would be restricted in buying and selling the most sensitive data,
1:56.6	or they would basically be considered like a credit bureau?
2:00.8	Yeah. So what we're trying to make sure is that information like your income,
2:06.9	your social security number, this is really only shared for legitimate purposes,
2:14.6	like accessing a loan offer. It can't be used simply to sell our data to scammers
2:24.4	who might be targeting older adults and others in financial distress. And it certainly
2:31.2	shouldn't be used to sell to state actors who are looking to collect information about U.S. citizens for nefarious purposes.
2:43.5	So what are the implications of a data broker falling under the standards of a credit bureau? Well, they'll just have to come clean
2:54.6	and not sell data that is not allowed under the law. They'll have to make sure that if they're
	...

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