Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

Jul 10 2019

Phantom debt brokering: an emerging form of identity theft

The FTC recently announced a “phantom debt broker” settlement. Phantom debt is debt that has been fabricated and then treated as if it was real debt that could be collected from consumers. This case gives a clear view into practices that form the modus operandi for a newly emerging type of identity theft.

Jun 11 2019

WPF Executive Director Pam Dixon to testify before US Senate on privacy, predictive analytics, and data brokers

Pam Dixon, WPF Executive Director, is testifying before the US Senate Banking Committee today on the topic of privacy, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, data brokers, and predictive analytics. “I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss our research and what we have documented about the privacy of Americans in a predictive analytics era,”

Oct 08 2015

WPF joins US PIRG and NCLC in letter of concern re: data breach

The World Privacy Forum joined the US PIRG, the National Consumer Law Center and other signatories in a joint letter to the US Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding the recent Experian data security breach. The letter asks key questions about the breach, and requests the FTC and CFPB to assist

Apr 06 2015

Data, Lending, and Civil Rights

WPF Executive Director Pam Dixon will be speaking on data, lending, and civil rights at the Georgetown University Law Center this Wednesday. She will be discussing research from her Scoring of America report, co-authored with Robert Gellman, and she will be highlighting new research on the topic of economically vulnerable populations. Event information: Wednesday, April

Jan 15 2014

Video: Congressional Testimony on Data Brokers – Senate Commerce Committee

Video of Congressional Testimony on data brokers. Pam Dixon gave this testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee on December 18, 2013 at a hearing dedicated to shedding light on data broker industry practices and how that affects consumers. The full testimony contains numerous examples of data broker activities, consumer scoring, and discusses the solutions that are needed, including a requirement for data broker opt out.

National IDs Around the World — Interactive map

About this Data Visualization: This interactive map displays the presence...
New 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.