House Lawmakers Want More Info From Data Brokers

A bipartisan group of House members said they are not satisfied with responses they got from nine data brokers, saying the industry needs to be more open about how it uses personal information collected about consumers. Reps. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Joe Barton (R-TX), co-chairmen of the Congressional Bipartisan Privacy Caucus, and five other lawmakers wrote nine data brokers last summer seeking more information about where they collect data, what type of data is collected, who buys the data, and how it is used. The lawmakers said in a statement that only one company, Acxiom, described itself as a data broker.

In its response to the lawmakers, Equifax, which is more well known as one of the three national credit reporting agencies, rejected the data broker label and instead said it offers "marketing services," which it noted only make up 1 percent of its business. Acxiom also was the only company that provided details on how many consumers asked to access data about themselves. Several others said they do not allow consumers to access their data because it is not personally identifiable. Acxion said in the last two years as few as 77 people each year out of the 190 million consumers it has information on asked to see their data. The companies did provide a few details on how they collect data about consumers. Their sources include consumers themselves, telephone directories, mobile phones, government agencies, financial institutions, and social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.