US Watchdog To Announce Plans To Regulate 'Surveillance Industry'

The top U.S. agency for consumer financial protection will announce plans at the White House on Tuesday to regulate companies that track and sell people's personal data, part of the Biden administration's widening scrutiny of that industry's privacy practices, officials said. From a report: Data brokers' conduct can be "particularly worrisome" because the sensitive data driving the use of artificial intelligence can be collected from military personnel, people experiencing dementia, and others, according to Rohit Chopra, director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "The CFPB will be taking steps to ensure that modern-day data brokers in the surveillance industry know that they cannot engage in illegal collection and sharing of our data," he said in a statement. President Joe Biden last year called on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to help protect the data privacy of women seeking reproductive healthcare who may face law enforcement action in some states. The FTC has also sued an Idaho company for selling mobile phone geolocation data, saying it could be traced to places like abortion clinics, churches and addiction treatment centers.

shut them down

[bugs2squash]

don't just monitor them - close them

Re: shut them down

[LindleyF]

A lot of the Internet as we know it is built on this model. Shutting it down would be...drastic.

Re: shut them down

[Ichijo]

You misspelled "disruptive".

And if a lot of the Internet shuts down because the users are no longer the product, well then good riddance.

I hope they also significantly tighten standards on collecting and storing user data. Data leaks should be as rare as jetliner crashes, not once a month events.

Re: shut them down

[LindleyF]

Some clarity is warranted. The user may not be the client, but that isn't always the same as being the product. In many cases, it's the aggregate data from many users that is valuable, not PII.

Re:

[cayenne8]

Start with Social Media...they're hovering up personal data and selling it left and right.

Make FaceBook target #1.

Re:

[WoodstockJeff]

Who cares if some cell phone company in Montana resells your data?
I don't. I don't do business with cell companies that sell my data.

Let's do something about surveillance you can't avoid.

OPM breach? IRS breach? Foreign nations hacking each other to get our data from the FBI and NSA? Local police departments?

But those don't profit from your data, they're government entities. They're immune.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

[HBPiper]

Nobody.

Re:

[dbialac]

Quis custodiet custodes qui vigilantes custodes

Re:

[sconeu]

Sunt custodes usque ad fundum

Sale & sharing of surveillance data is the rea

[bubblyceiling]

Public surveillance for internal private use is fine. Selling or sharing that data however should not be

ban them in EULA's and force OP-IN only

[Joe_Dragon]

ban them in EULA's and force OP-IN only.
and if an place say use must OP-IN then may must give an FULL refund if you say no.

Is the CFPB constitutional?

[schwit1]

https://www.vox.com/politics/2... [vox.com]

It's plan in this situation is laudable. But it should be funded through Congress and any of its regulations that have the force of law should be signed off by Congress.

Re:

[Ichijo]

But it should be funded through Congress and any of its regulations that have the force of law should be signed off by Congress.

To that end, we should to remind them that sometimes Republicans also have something to hide. [ca.gov]

Re:

[ZipNada]

Let us know when the House GOP introduces a bill doing that or anything else useful.

DOA

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

The top U.S. agency for consumer financial protection will announce plans at the White House on Tuesday to regulate companies that track and sell people's personal data,

Not gonna happen: the top US agency for consumer financial protection will soon find out that the top US agencies for domestic and foreign surveillance rely on Big Data to shirk the constitution and put the citizenry under surveillance.

Re:

[Required Snark]

Your reasoning is poor. Organizations that "shirk the constitution and put the citizenry under surveillance" will just find a way to get that information illegally. Changing the law will have zero impact on their behavior.

Don't spy on American Citizens.

[thrasher thetic]

The US government HATES competition.