On October 28, 2024, the Brennan Center for Justice’s Michael German submitted a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) commending its initiation of a rulemaking process under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to regulate the data broker industry and protect consumer privacy. The letter highlights serious concerns about data brokers’ largely unregulated collection, aggregation, and sale of sensitive personal information, which not only infringes on individual privacy rights but also poses critical national security risks. In particular, German warns that foreign adversaries and other hostile actors may exploit consumer data sourced from these data brokers for espionage, recruitment, and disinformation campaigns.
The letter also outlines how current data broker practices endanger law enforcement, military, and intelligence officials by making their personal information readily accessible. And it describes how government agencies themselves contribute to the problem by purchasing commercially available data, thereby bypassing established legal safeguards for citizens’ privacy and unnecessarily exposing Americans’ data to outside threats. While a comprehensive solution to the data broker problem and related national security concerns will require legislation, the Brennan Center strongly supports the CFPB’s efforts to require data brokers to comply with the FCRA.
Cfpb Letter Final by The Brennan Center for Justice on Scribd
