Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Consumer Information: Databases and Marketing, and Credit Bureaus
GOF 2.3.1 and 2.3.3, by Sarah Baase, discusses information used by companies, and how this information could be used harmfully and/or not to the customer's knowledge. Marketers compile information about potential customers into databases, and send advertisements, or, as some consider it, "junk mail," to these potential buyers. Although advertisements to not cause serious harm, they can be inconvenient and annoying. Behind the inconvenience, though, is an even bigger problem. Marketers could have access to information about people (customers) that these people might not want other people to know about, and most probably is without the customer's knowledge. Also, credit bureaus, with their large storehouse of information form credit reports, have been known to distribute this information to marketers, which will in turn use the information to send advertisements to those more prone to spend, as judged by said credit reports. At first site, marketers and credit bureaus may seem harmless, if annoying; but behind this facade is a much deeper, more troubling problem, that could cause more harm than expected. It seems that any organization or business trusted with personal information can't, in fact, be trusted. Is there a way to prevent the leaking of information?
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Protecting personal information from being leaked is almost impossible. The Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 restricts credit bureaus to disclosing information only to employers, the government, insurance companies, and others who need it for legitimate business purposes involving the consumer. The last thing stated is very vague, the act pretty much says that anyone can look at the consumer information. But in 2001, the credit bureaus could no longer sell the information without consumer consent. How do they justify consumer consent?
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