Database Firms Defend Use of Data

Database companies worked hard to explode the notion that information is used to create individual profiles of consumers, in testimony today on Capitol Hill.

“With all due respect, marketers don’t care who you are as an individual,” said Deborah Zuccarini, executive vice president and chief marketing manager at Experian, Schaumburg, IL, in prepared testimony before the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Other database company representatives Jennifer Barrett, chief privacy officer at Acxiom, Little Rock, AR, and John Ford, chief policy officer at Equifax, Atlanta, also spoke before the committee in a hearing held by the subcommitee on commerce, trade and consumer protection called, Is the Customer’s Privacy Protected?

“Our contracts prohibit the use of individual look up,” Zuccarini said, emphasizing that the only time information is provided on an individual basis is to aide police in preventing fraud or helping with child-support payments or witness look up and protection.

Listing all the data that is collected on consumers , from licensing and state registration sources to information provided on warranty cards, the chairman of the committee, W.J. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) said: When this is correlated “with Census data, you can get a pretty good picture of a person. Is this true? Americans are not aware of how much information you have on them.” Can I access my own data? he asked.

No, it is not accessible to individuals, the panelists insisted, but there are many ways to opt out. They mentioned opting out through the Direct Marketing Association, or by calling a toll-free number on the database companies’ Web sites. Online, consumers can opt out on a registration page by clicking an opt-out link, they said.

Also, it is important to remember, much of the information is self-reported, Ford said.

“There are at least eight laws that enforce data we use today,” Ford said. “We need to do a better job [educating consumers] so that consumers can recognize bad actors and help make sure they are [put out of business].”

More legislation is not necessarily the best way to address marketers who are violating consumers’ privacy, they said.

“If [laws] limited the flow of information, our customers and consumers would have a significant economic impact,” said Barrett. Without direct marketing the cost of goods would go up 3% to 5%.”