WPF’s data broker testimony results in new Congressional letters to data brokers about vulnerability-based marketing

February 3, 2014

 

Washington, D.C. — Senator Rockefeller sent six hard-hitting and precedent-setting letters to data brokers today. This was the Senator’s direct follow-up to the information WPF Executive Director Pam Dixon revealed in her December 2013 data broker testimony at the Senate Commerce Committee, which Sen. Rockefeller chairs.

Rockefeller, in his release, said: “I am concerned that data brokers are categorizing vulnerable consumers based on their economic and health challenges, and selling that information without consumer knowledge or consent,” Rockefeller said. “As I said during the hearing in December, I want to know which companies are buying these types of products to target their marketing to these groups of consumers.”

Pam Dixon welcomed the news, stating: “The World Privacy Forum is pleased and relieved that a member of Congress is finally paying attention to the plight of consumers who find themselves on highly questionable lists, such as lists of people with HIV/AIDs, genetic diseases, cancer, and lists of those living in poverty.”