Data brokers collect and sell a wide range of information about consumers, often without their knowledge and consent, including geolocation, health data, buying habits, political affiliation, property records, criminal history, and financial assets. The lack of transparency surrounding data brokers — combined with how artificial intelligence can supercharge their ability to exploit and weaponize the data they sell — poses risks to consumer privacy, financial health, and personal safety.
The Biden-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) started a rulemaking to clarify which data brokers are thus regulated by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), but the Trump Administration’s CFPB withdrew this proposed rule. Now it is up to the states, which have an important opportunity to protect their residents, either by regulation or guidance under their own FCRA analogs or adopting a law similar to California’s DELETE Act. Also, state Attorneys General could bring enforcement action against data brokers under the FCRA or their own state laws.
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