Consumer Privacy

Some Online Loan Applications Endanger Consumers

Have you ever filled out an application online for a “loan matching service”? If so, you have to hope that you didn’t fill out an application on one of the websites operated by a company called Blue Global. They ran websites like autoloansusa.com, loanmarketplace.com, moneytoday.com, 247loan.com, 100dayloans.com, and others. Court documents released this week by the US Federal Trade Commission reveal that after the company collected consumers’ financial information, it sold most of that information to non-lenders, including SSNs, bank account numbers, and …

WPF at RightsCon to Present on Digital Identity, Digital Rights

We are honored to be speaking on two panels at this year’s RightsCon, an event that takes place 29-31 March in Brussels, Belgium. Both of our panels will be on the 31 of March. Here is some additional reading and information for each of the panels: Panel 1: Managing Concerns Around Digital Identity, Fri, 9:00-10:15, Innovation, 1st Floor….

United States’ Postal Service “Informed Delivery” plan puts consumers at risk

The US Postal Service’s new Informed Delivery system has the potential to impact every household in the United States that receives mail. It’s important, and there are plenty of privacy issues. The World Privacy Forum wrote extensive comments to the United States Postal Service warning it about certain consumer privacy and security risks of its Informed Delivery service. Here’s more information about Informed Delivery, and why it may create new phishing risks.

Risk indicators for senior financial fraud and abuse: new red flags

Elder financial abuse is a terrible crime, and it has not gotten nearly the attention it deserves. Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a important report to financial institutions about what they can do to spot this issue. The World Privacy Forum has testified about senior identity theft — including financial and medical