From the FTC: Spokeo, Inc., a data broker that compiles and sells detailed information profiles on millions of consumers, will pay $800,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it marketed the profiles to companies in the human resources, background screening, and recruiting industries without taking steps to protect consumers required under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This…
Tag: Spokeo
Hacktivists <3 Data Brokers
Privacy advocates have often complained about data brokers and how information is too readily available without our consent or even the right to opt-out. Now it’s becoming increasingly clear that our headache may be a hacktivist’s wet dream. One of the popular tactics of hacktivists is to “d0x” public or private figures whose conduct they…
Consumer lawsuits challenge online data brokers
Two lawsuits in federal court in California that challenge the way a popular online data-mining company does business could give consumers more privacy protection from firms that sell personal information on the Web. In the most recent complaint, filed last week in the Central District of California, plaintiff Thomas Robins alleged that Spokeo Inc. violated…
Court Dismisses Class Action Against Spokeo for Lack of Standing — Robins v. Spokeo
Venkat Balasubramani writes: Robins v. Spokeo, 10-cv-05306 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 27, 2011) Spokeo is a website that bills itself as an aggregator of hard-to-find information about people. Robins filed a complaint against Spokeo for violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, arguing that the “reports generated by Spokeo.com contain inaccurate consumer information that is marketed…