Consumer Reports

At the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners in Mauritius this week, representatives of the private sector and academia joined together to discuss the positive changes and attendant risks that the internet of things and big data may bring to daily life. Attendees memorialized the observations and conclusions of their discussions in a Declaration on the Internet of Things and a Resolution on Big Data. The documents are not, of course, binding. But, the fact that the Declaration and Resolution drew the consensus of a large gathering of international data protection regulators renders them relevant indicators of direction of data privacy policies and trends.
Continue Reading Data Protection Officials Adopt Internet of Things Declaration and Big Data Resolution

This week, the Federal Trade Commission released a study of the U.S. credit reporting industry and credit report accuracy.  The study found that five percent of consumers had errors on one of their three nationwide credit reports that could lead them to pay more for financial products.  The study is…

Continue Reading FTC Study Details Inaccuracies in Credit Reports

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued a final rule to implement its authority under section 1024 of Dodd-Frank to subject “larger participants” in the consumer reporting market to CFPB supervision.  The rule will have significant consequences for companies in the consumer reporting industry.  The final rule follows a proposed rule issued in February 2012 indicating that the CFPB intended to supervise the consumer reporting market as part of the CFPB’s authority to supervise nonbank providers of consumer financial products and services.  The final rule is effective September 30, 2012. 

The final rule defines a “larger participant” in the consumer reporting market as a nonbank covered person that offers or provides consumer reporting and has annual receipts from consumer reporting in excess of $7 million.Continue Reading CFPB Issues Rule to Supervise Larger Participants in Consumer Reporting Market