US Senate expands data privacy investigation

Several companies that are the target of a US government investigation into the data broker industry have refused to reveal specific details about their business practices, intensifying scrutiny over the mass trade of personal details about consumers. Sen Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), chairman of the US Senate Commerce Committee, announced that he is expanding his nearly year-long investigation into the multibillion-dollar data broker industry to include 12 health, personal finance and family-focused websites.

The sites – which include Time’s Health.com, Condé Nast’s Self.com, Fool.com, Investopedia.com and Babycenter.com – could be collecting sensitive details about a consumer’s health or financial status and feeding it to the data brokers, he said. The investigation has expanded beyond the original set of nine data brokers after many refused to identify the “specific sources of consumer information they obtain,” Sen Rockefeller said. As a result, investigators were kept in the dark as to how the industry operated, he added.