|
FTC tackles privacy
|
 |
June 10, 1997: 7:28 p.m. ET
Agency to examine if credit agencies, marketers do too much snooping
From Correspondent Steve Young
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Databases are an important tool to all marketers, but many have started to question whether the information in those databases violates a consumer's right to privacy.
The Federal Trade Commission this week is tackling that issue by taking a look at whether credit-reporting companies and direct marketers abuse personal privacy.
While some critics think of the government as "Big Brother," the FTC Tuesday pointed to the credit reporting and direct marketers, saying they give people with computers and access to the Internet the power to do real snooping.
"I can learn the person's social security number, occupation, the names and ages of the person's spouse and children, names of the person's names, the value of the person's home and property taxes paid on that home," said Robert Pitofsky, chairman of the FTC.
Once-obscure public records are suddenly available with a click of the mouse. For example, Blake Hogan of Hogan Information Services said his company gathers information from federal, state and county courthouses and sells it. Information about judgments, suits and anything else a courthouse records are available electronically.
Information once called "private" is also for sale. Mark Hanna, president of WDIA Corp., said his company sells Social Security numbers to anyone willing to pay $13.40 by credit card over the Internet. The Social Security number can be used to track someone's current address and telephone through services such as those provided by Lexis-Nexis.
Even very public information takes a new twist when computerized on CD-ROM or through the Web.
The FTC says the problem also involves database companies using private networks and the Internet.
Eight of the information companies that addressed the FTC Tuesday said they've adopted their own guidelines. Gerald Cerasale of the Direct Marketing Association said information it buys is limited to that which helps marketers sell things and is not shared with others.
However, direct marketer Metromail has been accused of violating the privacy of children by selling their home addresses.
"People say this is information that belongs to me and therefore you shouldn't be using it. Others would argue that it's not your information, it's information about you," said John Ford of Equifax.
Another recent uproar involved LEXIS-NEXIS selling Social Security and other personal information to lawyers trying to find parties to lawsuits.
However, Robert Glass, vice president of LEXIS-NEXIS, promised the company would not repeat the action. (118K WAV) or (118K AIFF)
As for concerns that credit reporting companies use the Internet to soak up personal information, at least one company is adjusting its policies to cope with new issues in the information age.
"If you were go to our web site, there's a privacy statement there that says we don't collect data off the Internet," said Martin Abrams of Experian.
Computer makers, software developers and telecommunications companies have a proposal they hope will satisfy everyone. Their plan would let consumers decide how much personal information would be available on the Internet.
Others like the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Mark Rotenberg have a new idea to counter against companies that repackage data without revealing the sources: He suggests marking each piece of data with its source so consumers would know who was providing the information.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
