Hi,
Right-wing activists are using cell phone location data to send
anti-choice misinformation to people who visited Planned Parenthood
clinics.^1
Scammers are using demographic data to target seniors and steal their
money through sweepstakes schemes.^2
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bought internet data to track
down, arrest, and deport an undocumented man after he “checked in” to a
Home Depot on Facebook.^3
These are just a few of the shocking ways that our private data is being
used after it’s collected and sold by data brokers. Data brokers are the
“middlemen of surveillance capitalism” – they track us online and then
sell our private data to corporations, governments, and others.^4
There are very few laws governing how these data brokers operate. But
right now, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is
investigating the issue, with the goal of establishing rules to protect us
from these dangerous invasions of privacy.^5
[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition: My personal info is not for sale – it’s time for the
CFPB to rein in data brokers!
ADD YOUR NAME
Former Federal Trade Commissioner Edith Ramirez said that data brokers
often know more about us than our own family and friends.^6
This data is used for far more than simply targeting ads for online
shopping. Last month, an anti-abortion group in Wisconsin used location
information from a data broker to target patients at Planned Parenthood
and other reproductive health clinics with ads promoting bogus “abortion
reversal” and other anti-choice messaging. In a post-Roe v. Wade America,
it’s easy to picture how law enforcement could use similar data to arrest
and prosecute people seeking abortion care.^1
The Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and the FBI already use data
brokers to purchase information on cell locations, home addresses, and
more to investigate, arrest, and deport people within the United States.
Agencies have done all this without warrants, bypassing prohibitions on
companies handing data directly to law enforcement.^4
The CFPB is currently requesting public input to finally create new rules
to govern these out of control data brokers. But the brokers are spending
millions on lobbying to prevent any changes to their lucrative industry.
The CFPB’s comment period closes next week – now is the time to take
action to rein in data brokers.
[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition: We need to end outrageous abuses of our private
information by data brokers!
Thanks for taking action,
Joey and the team at Demand Progress
[ [link removed] ]DONATE
Sources:
1. Jezebel, “Wisconsin Activist Group Used 'Geofencing' Around Abortion
Clinics to Dissuade Patients,” [ [link removed] ]May 18, 2023.
2. AP, “Marketing company to pay $150M for enabling fraud schemes,”
[ [link removed] ]January 28, 2021.
3. The Intercept, “How ICE Uses Social Media to Surveil and Arrest
Immigrants,” [ [link removed] ]December 22, 2019.
4. Wired, “Data Brokers Are a Threat to Democracy,” [ [link removed] ]April 13, 2021.
5. CFPB, “CFPB Launches Inquiry Into the Business Practices of Data
Brokers,” [ [link removed] ]March 15, 2023.
6. FTC, “FTC Recommends Congress Require the Data Broker Industry to be
More Transparent and Give Consumers Greater Control Over Their
Personal Information,” [ [link removed] ]May 27, 2014.
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