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Video: Congressional Testimony on Data Brokers - Senate Commerce Committee

Video of Congressional Testimony on data brokers. Pam Dixon gave this testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee on December 18, 2013 at a hearing dedicated to shedding light on data broker industry practices and how that affects consumers. The full testimony contains numerous examples of data broker activities, consumer scoring, and discusses the solutions that are needed, including a requirement for data broker opt out.

Thousands of complaints about kids' expensive bites of Apple's "in-app purchases" draw attention from the FTC

It sounds so innocent: the Tap Pet Hotel app for kids. But one mother complained to the FTC that her child tapped up $2,600 of in-app purchases up while using the app. Other parents complained about unauthorized purchases by children of up to $500 for apps like Dragon Story and ...

WPF Resource Page: Job Search Privacy

Searching for a job requires a balance between keeping the right information private and circulating your information to the right employers. Job searching has never been easy, but in the era of Internet job searching, keeping a balance has become more challenging. The World Privacy Forum has researched and published ...

WPF Resources Page: Genetic Privacy Page

About genetic privacy, World Privacy Forum publications on genetic privacy, genetic privacy issues, and other resources What is Genetic Privacy? Genetic privacy relates to the complex set of issues surrounding how DNA information about individuals is handled and used. Some genetic privacy issues relate to the acquisition of DNA samples ...

WPF Resource Page: Security Freeze Information (How to set a freeze, more)

What is a security freeze? A security freeze (sometimes called a credit freeze ) lets you stop the disclosure of your credit report by a credit bureau. Currently, the three credit bureaus are allowing all consumers nationwide to set a security freeze for a fee. All states have specific security ...

WPF Resource Page: Behavioral Advertising and Privacy

About Behaviorally targeted advertising, World Privacy Forum testimony, comments and resources What is "behaviorally targeted advertising"? Not all online advertising is inherently bad. In its generic forms, WPF views online advertising issues as generally lower on the privacy score card than for example, data broker privacy intrusions. The World Privacy ...

WPF Resource Page: Selected Agency and Public Comments

The World Privacy Forum submits privacy-focused public comments in accordance with our core mission to government agencies in response to relevant Notices of Proposed Rulemaking and other public requests for information. The comments below are a curated list of public comments that WPF has submitted over the years. These comments ...

WPF Resource Page: Cloud Computing and Privacy

About Cloud Computing: The World Privacy Forum Cloud Computing Report, and Cloud Computing Tips What is Cloud Computing ? Cloud computing involves the sharing or storage by users of their own information on remote servers owned or operated by others and accessed through the Internet or other connections. Cloud computing ...

WPF Resource Page: The Medical Identity Theft Information Page

About medical identity theft, the world privacy forum medical identity theft report, and resources What is medical identity theft? Medical identity theft occurs when someone uses a person's name and sometimes other parts of their identity -- such as insurance information -- without the person's knowledge or consent to obtain ...

Big Data, Big Myths

WPF Blog Post Forbes has published a thoughtful article about Big Data, reeling the hype attached to the catchy term back to reality. The article, written by Forbes contributors Woodrow Hartzog and Evan Selinger, outlines why the term Big Data isn't used by people who actually work in Big Data. ...

Public Comments: November 2013 - WPF Comments on draft Genomic Data Sharing Policy (NIH)

WPF Comments on Genomic Data Sharing Policy for sharing, for research purposes, of large-scale human and nonhuman genomic data (NIH) Background: The National Institutes of Health published a draft Data Sharing Policy for human and non-human genomic data. The sharing is for research purposes. The World Privacy Forum comments focus ...

WPF files comments on Genomic Data Sharing, urges broad privacy protections

WPF filed comments today asking The National Institutes of Health to make changes to its draft Genomic Data Sharing Policy for sharing, for research purposes, of large-scale human and nonhuman genomic data. The World Privacy Forum comments focus on human genomic privacy. "We are most concerned in our comments that the NIH find a full range of privacy protections for genomic data to be used for research. We are interested in a full arsenal from encryption to certificates of confidential to civil and criminal penalties for misuse. Consent -- as alluring as the idea is -- cannot by itself carry all of the privacy water," said Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum.

News Release: New GAO data broker report discusses key WPF work on sales of mental health lists, more

San Diego -- 15 November, 2013: The General Accounting Office (GAO) issued its long-awaited report on data brokers, INFORMATION RESELLERS: Consumer Privacy Framework Needs to Reflect Changes in Technology and the Marketplace. The report discusses key World Privacy Forum testimony and research. "We are pleased with the GAO report," said Pam Dixon, Executive Director of the World Privacy Forum. "In particular, we are glad the GAO highlighted our work calling for a stop to the selling of people's sensitive medical and health information for marketing purposes. This is a practice that is causing great harm, the GAO made the right call in pointing out new controls are needed." This press release includes links to the GAO report, to Dixon's Congressional testimony, and to the WPF report discussed by the GAO.

WPF Report - Data Brokers and the Federal Government: A New Front in the Battle for Privacy Opens, Part III in a series

This report focuses on government use of commercial data brokers, the implications for that usage, and what needs to be done to address privacy problems. The government must bring itself fully to heel in the area of privacy. If it is going to outsource its data needs to commercial data brokers, it needs to attach the privacy standards it would have been held to if it had collected the data itself. Outsourcing is not an excuse for evading privacy obligations. Report authors: Bob Gellman and Pam Dixon.

Data Brokers and the Federal Government: A New Front in the Battle for Privacy Opens | Introduction and Background

The US federal government uses commercial data brokers [1] extensively for a wide variety of governmental activities. It is unquestioned that the government provides considerable revenue to commercial data brokers. How much? A reasonable and conservative estimate is that the number ranges in the billions of dollars. Over the course of the last 20 years, the extent of the relationship has become clear through a series of detailed investigations and scholarly research. For background purposes, we reference a leading study and discuss a newer use. This report does not seek to reinvestigate and re-document known uses.

Data Brokers and the Federal Government: A New Front in the Battle for Privacy Opens | Recommendations

Recommendations for the Office of Management and Budget: OMB should establish privacy standards that are at least a good as those in and recommended for the Do Not Pay Initiative to cover all government purchases of commercial databases with personal information. OMB should consider accomplishing an expansion by establishing a task force that includes representatives of consumer and privacy groups.

Data Brokers and the Federal Government: A New Front in the Battle for Privacy Opens | Conclusion

OMB deserves much praise for this novel privacy initiative, but it has more work to do. The evaluation of the first private sector database in the Do Not Pay Initiative needs to be accomplished in the open with full participation by all interested parties. The OMB memo provides for that. We need to see how well that process works.

Data Brokers and the Federal Government: A New Front in the Battle for Privacy Opens | Discussion and Analysis of the OMB Do Not Pay Guidance

The best starting point for understanding the OMB Do Not Pay memo is with the legal framework behind the Do Not Pay Initiative. The Initiative derives from a combination of little-noticed executive orders and updates to existing laws. In 2009, Executive Order 13520, Reducing Improper Payments, [29] directed agencies to identify "ways in which information sharing may improve eligibility verification and pre-payment scrutiny." This was the start of the current Do Not Pay Initiative.

News Release: WPF Publishes New Report on Government Use of Commercial Data Brokers

Today the World Privacy Forum published a report discussing the US federal government's use of commercial data brokers, the implications for that usage, and what needs to be done to address privacy problems. The report argues that the government must bring itself fully to heel in the area of privacy, explaining that when government outsources its data needs to commercial data brokers, it needs to also attach the privacy standards it would have been held to if it had collected the data itself. Outsourcing can no longer be an excuse for evading privacy obligations.