Data Brokers

Jul 06 2017

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 …

Feb 06 2017

When TVs watch you: What we learned from the FTC’s VIZIO case

Television maker VIZIO is paying $2.2 million in penalties to settle charges after the FTC and the New Jersey Attorney General’s office brought a complaint against the company for violating its customers’ privacy. The complaint against VIZIO stated that the company collected detailed information on millions of its customers TV viewing habits without their express consent, and that VIZIO facilitated something called “data appending,” which is when even more detailed information is added to existing customer profiles.

Jun 06 2016

New updates to our Top Ten Opt Out Tips for Consumers

We have updated our popular Top Ten Opt Outs page for consumers. All of the links are fresh, and we have updated the text where it had gotten stale. I am frequently asked which of the opt outs is the most important. Really, that will depend on what is important for you. In general, though,

Feb 19 2016

Op Ed on Employer-Sponsored Wellness Programs

Today The Guardian published an op-ed I wrote about employer-sponsored wellness programs. You can find that op-ed here. I have researched and written about HIPAA, health plans, wellness, predictive analytics, and big data for years now. A lot of my work coalesced together when Robert Gellman and I researched and wrote the Scoring of America

Nov 16 2015

WPF Congressional Testimony on Data Broker Security Available

WPF’s Congressional testimony of Nov. 3, 2015 before the US Senate Judiciary Committee is now available online. Please visit the Senate download site here to access the written testimony. The testimony focuses on data brokers, information security, and regulatory controls. A video of the actual hearing is also available from the Judiciary website, that is

National IDs Around the World — Interactive map

About this Data Visualization: This interactive map displays the presence...
Report: From the Filing Cabinet to the Cloud: Updating the Privacy Act of 1974

This comprehensive report and proposed bill text is focused on the Privacy Act of 1974, an important and early Federal privacy law that applies to the government sector and some contractors. The Privacy Act was written for the 1970s information era -- an era that was characterized by the use of mainframe computers and filing cabinets. Today's digital information era looks much different than the '70s: smart phones are smarter than the old mainframes, and documents are now routinely digitized and stored and perhaps even analyzed in the cloud, among many other changes. The report focuses on why the Privacy Act needs an update that will bring it into this century, and how that could look and work. This work was written by Robert Gellman, and informed by a two-year multi-stakeholder process.
COVID-19 and HIPAA: HHS’s Troubled Approach to Waiving Privacy and Security Rules for the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic strained the U.S. health ecosystem in numerous ways, including putting pressure on the HIPAA privacy and security rules. The Department of Health and Human Services adjusted the privacy and security rules for the pandemic through the use of statutory and administrative HIPAA waivers. While some of the adjustments are appropriate for the emergency circumstances, there are also some meaningful and potentially unwelcome privacy and security consequences. At an appropriate time, the use of HIPAA waivers as a response to health care emergencies needs a thorough review. This report sets out the facts, identifies the issues, and proposes a roadmap for change.