This week, California’s governor signed a first-in-the-nation law that will impose new regulations on data brokers, requiring such entities to delete personal data pursuant to consumer requests. Data brokers specialize in collecting personal data or data about companies, mostly from public records but sometimes sourced privately, and selling or licensing such information to third parties
data brokers
White House to Host Meeting on Data Brokering Industry as CFPB Promises New Regulations
By Kathryn Rattigan & Blair Robinson on
Posted in Data Privacy
The White House hosted a roundtable meeting Tuesday on the data brokering industry as a part of an administration-wide push toward strengthening America’s consumer privacy landscape. The meeting brought together researchers, regulators, and consumer advocates. The Biden-Harris Administration has called for stronger national regulations on data brokering, or the buying and selling of personal consumer…
Data Brokers May be Selling Mental Health Data with Minimal Vetting
By Kathryn Rattigan & Blair Robinson on
Posted in Data Privacy
A recent study found that some data brokers are selling highly sensitive data relating to consumers’ mental health conditions on the open market with minimal vetting of their customers and few controls on how these purchasers use the data. The study, conducted by a researcher at Duke University’s Technology Policy Lab, found that 11 out…
Data brokers settle with FTC for selling consumers’ information to scammers
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
SiteSearch, John Ayers, LeapLab and Leads Company (the defendants) settled with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for “knowingly provid[ing] scammers with hundreds of thousands of consumers’ sensitive personal information.”
SiteSearch will pay $4.1 million default judgment, while the other defendants’ monetary obligations are suspended based on inability to pay. Those defendants are prohibited from selling…