Vermont passes first first law to crack down on data brokers

guest · May 27, 2018

Vermont passes first first law to crack down on data brokers
May 27, 2018
https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/27/vermont-passes-first-first-law-to-crack-down-on-data-brokers/

Data brokers in Vermont will now have to register as such with the state; they must take standard security measures and notify authorities of security breaches (no, they weren’t before); and using their data for criminal purposes like fraud is now its own actionable offense.

If you’re not familiar with data brokers, well, that’s the idea. These companies don’t really have a consumer-facing side, instead opting to collect information on people from as many sources as possible, buying and selling it amongst themselves like the commodity it has become.

This data exists in a regulatory near-vacuum. As long as they step carefully, data brokers can maintain what amounts to a shadow profile on consumers. I talked with director of the World Privacy Forum, Pam Dixon, about this practice.

Security at these companies will have to meet a minimum standard, as well as access controls. And data breach rules mean prompt notification if personal data is leaked in spite of them.
Click to expand...

mirimir · May 27, 2018

Hey, good on Vermont

guest · Mar 2, 2019

A landmark Vermont law nudges over 120 data brokers out of the shadows
Privacy advocates have praised Vermont’s new data broker law, but acknowledge it does little to rein in a largely obscure and unregulated industry
March 2, 2019
https://www.fastcompany.com/9030203...out-of-the-shadows-under-landmark-vermont-law

As of February, businesses collecting and selling data about Vermont residents are required to register under the country’s first law governing the murky “data broker” industry. So far, 121 companies have registered, according to data from the Vermont secretary of state’s office.
“There’s companies that I’ve never heard of before,” says Zachary Tomanelli, communications and technology director at the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, which supported the law. “It’s often very cumbersome to know where the places are that you have to go, and how you opt out.”

Joel Winston, an attorney focused on privacy who formerly served as New Jersey’s assistant attorney general, hailed the bill as “the first legislation by any American state to force data mining companies out of the shadows.” But he says the regulations are “more symbolic than substantive.”
Click to expand...

Here are the data brokers quietly buying and selling your personal information

The registry is an expansive, alphabet soup of companies, from lesser-known organizations that help landlords research potential tenants or deliver marketing leads to insurance companies, to the quiet giants of data.

And yet these 121 entities represent just a fraction of the broader data economy: The Vermont law only covers third-party data firms–those trafficking in the data of people with whom they have no relationship–as opposed to “first-party” data holders like Amazon, Facebook, or Google, which collect data directly from users.
THE COMPANIES
Below are the companies that have registered under Vermont’s “data broker” law, with descriptions drawn from their websites or other sources where noted. [...]
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Vermont passes first first law to crack down on data brokers

guest Guest

mirimir Registered Member

guest Guest

Log in or Sign up

Vermont passes first first law to crack down on data brokers

guest Guest

mirimir Registered Member

guest Guest

Useful Searches