According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Americans don’t know how their data is being used and, “generally do not have the ability to stop the collection of their data, verify data accuracy or maintain privacy.” To that end, the office has released a report that urges federal legislators to take action on consumer data privacy.
Often when we think of data privacy, and particularly here at Extract, we think of the key pieces of personally identifiable information (PII) that can result in fraud or unwanted identification of an individual. This list would include things like birthdates, social security numbers, or the name of a minor. These are the pieces of information that Extract identifies automatically in public government documents for redaction.
Things are murkier in the world of consumer data where information is essentially willingly given to or collected by businesses to profile a potential customer. Businesses still have an incredibly important responsibility to safeguard PII, but oversight over the more esoteric data is lax. The data being collected is being used in an attempt to predict consumer behavior, but GAO warns that the use of this information creates risks including biased outcomes and consumer scores that don’t accurately reflect an individual.
While there currently isn’t any federal legislation surrounding the use of data like consumer scores, there has been an effort. The GAO recommends taking congressional action for protecting the creation, sale, and use of consumer scores while expanding legislative protections and the federal authority to oversee internet privacy. The issue with these recommendations isn’t necessarily their content, but that they are being reiterated from a 2013 report issued by GAO that didn’t spur any action.
Given how long it’s been since GAO first made these recommendations, it’s unclear what the path to move forward will be, but a couple of avenues have made some progress. One is the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, which was proposed in June by a bipartisan group of bipartisan representatives to create a data protection federal framework, although it has been criticized by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not offering the same levels of protection as California’s framework.
The other would come through the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which has been the organization with the bulk of the responsibility for internet privacy. The FTC released a request for public comment on data security, commercial surveillance practices, and to determine whether the FTC is a better candidate to create rules around privacy than Congress.
If you have a need for eliminating the sensitive information from your files and documents, reach out with a call or email and we’d be happy to show you our software.
About the Author: Chris Mack
Chris is a Marketing Manager at Extract with experience in product development, data analysis, and both traditional and digital marketing. Chris received his bachelor’s degree in English from Bucknell University and has an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. A passionate marketer, Chris strives to make complex ideas more accessible to those around him in a compelling way.