The Federal Trade Commission is investigating the business
practices of nine data brokers for how they collect and use data from
consumers.
The FTC said Tuesday it would use the info to study privacy
practices in the data broker business, which is also getting a spotlight on
Capitol Hill from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) and Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas)
and Ed Markey (D-Mass.).
The brokers who have received
data orders -- FTC is not calling them requests -- are Acxiom, Corelogic, Datalogix,
eBureau, ID Analytics, Intelius, Peekyou, Rapleaf and Recorded Future.
The FTC earlier this year called on data brokers
to improve transparency about their practices. "The FTC will use the
responses it receives to prepare a study and to make recommendations on
whether, and how, the data broker industry could improve its privacy
practices," the commission said Tuesday in putting its exclamation point
on that request via the investigation.
In October, Sen. Rockefellerasked for info from his own list of data brokers including Reed-Elsevier,
Experian and Spokeo. In addition, and Markey and Barton, cochairs of the
congressional privacy caucus, didthe same for their own, separate list.
