Congressional Privacy Caucus clamps down on data brokers

(Credit: CNET)

The bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus has sent inquiry letters to several companies regarding their practices in so-called data brokering.

Caucus co-chairmen Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joe Bartin (R-Texas), as well as six other lawmakers, yesterday contacted credit reporting agencies Experian and Equifax; marketing services firms Acxiom and Epsilon; and background check provider Intelius, on how they collect, analyze, and then sell consumer information. The lawmakers are particularly interested in the information the companies collect and how they go about it.

The New York Times was first to report on the letter.

Consumer information is floating around both online and offline, and companies that can access that information and then create an ultradetailed profile of an individual, can sell that for quite a bit of cash. The information can be used for marketing purposes and for understanding current customers better. In other words, more data can often mean more cash for companies.

And serious cash at that. According to the lawmakers, data brokering has become a "multibillion dollar industry" in the U.S. as... [Read more]