FTC Issues Orders to Broad Set of Data Brokers for Study on Consumer Data Collection, Use
The FTC issued orders seeking information about data-collection practices of nine data brokers. The orders, which were approved unanimously by commissioners, ask recipients to detail “the nature and sources of the consumer information the data brokers collect; how they use, maintain, 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 FTC said (http://xrl.us/bn63uc). The nine companies are Acxiom, Corelogic, Datalogix, eBureau, ID Analytics, Intelius, Peekyou, Rapleaf and Recorded Future.
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Three of the nine companies have already faced congressional inquiries this year. Acxiom and Intelius responded to an inquiry from Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. -- co-chairman of the Congressional Privacy Caucus -- in August (CD Nov 9 p7), and Acxiom and Rapleaf received letters from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., in October asking about their practices and uses (CD Oct 11 p12). “We urge the Caucus to gain a broader understanding of information use, including its very important benefits, not just the privacy implications,” Acxiom Chief Privacy Officer Jennifer Barrett Glasgow wrote (http://xrl.us/bn63mx). Additionally, Acxiom and Intelius spoke at a congressional briefing about data brokers last week (CD Dec 14 p8), where they responded to questions from Markey, Privacy Caucus Co-Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz and Commissioner Julie Brill. At last week’s briefing, industry representatives asked that Congress and the FTC develop a narrower definition for data brokers.
The FTC hopes to gain insight from “a diverse group of companies” across the spectrum of firms that may fall into the current definition of data brokers, Tiffany George, attorney in the FTC’s division of privacy and identity protection, told us. “The inquiries are pretty widely cast,” she said, and separate from the congressional inquiries of this year. “We expect some difference” in the responses “because our questions are different,” she said. Responses from the companies are due Feb. 1 but will be kept confidential, George said, which could allow the companies to say more about their practices than they were willing to in the responses to members of Congress. The FTC will release a report based on aggregated, anonymous information from the responses, “sometime next year,” George said.
Rockefeller applauded “the FTC’s decision to join me in taking a hard look at the data broker industry,” he said in a statement. “American consumers deserve to know who is collecting information about them, what that information is, and how it is being used,” he said. “It’s critical to bring data brokers out from the shadows and shed light on this omnipresent industry in order to develop a system of oversight and rules that fosters consumers’ control over their personal information,” Markey said in a statement, applauding the FTC. “It is time that Congress carefully considers this industry and the potential dangers that exists,” Barton said in a statement. “I look forward to the study and the recommendations to be given by the FTC and hope to use this information to work with my colleagues on how we should move forward in Congress.” In the agency’s announcement of the orders, the FTC thanked Rockefeller, Barton and Markey “for their leadership on this issue."
The latest inquiry is “an avenue to promote a better understanding of why what we do is vital for the American economy as it creates enormous value for people and businesses while respecting and protecting consumers’ interests,” Acxiom’s Glasgow said in a statement. “As we have said in similar instances with other requests we have received, we look forward to cooperating with the FTC.”