Commissioner Julie Brill’s keynote speech at CFP yesterday is well worth reading. Here’s a small part of it where she addresses ideas apart from legislation:
I would suggest we need a comprehensive initiative – one I am calling “Reclaim Your Name.” Reclaim Your Name would give consumers the knowledge and the technological tools to reassert some control over their personal data – to be the ones to decide how much to share, with whom, and for what purpose – to reclaim their names.
Reclaim Your Name would empower the consumer to find out how brokers are collecting and using data; give her access to information that data brokers have amassed about her; allow her to opt-out if she learns a data broker is selling her information for marketing purposes; and provide her the opportunity to correct errors in information used for substantive decisions – like credit, insurance, employment, and other benefits.
Over a year ago, I called on the data broker industry to develop a user-friendly, one-stop online shop to achieve these goals. Over the past several months, I have discussed the proposal with a few leaders in the data broker business, and they have expressed some interest in pursuing ideas to achieve greater transparency. I sincerely hope the entire industry will come to the table to help consumers reclaim their names.