Regulation of consumer information may be closer than we think. The number of bills introduced in Congress to oversee the compiling industry continues to mount, and the number of reported data breaches is keeping pace with it.
It all came to a head last month during a privacy hearing conducted by the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Both before and after the hearing, senators introduced bills that would offer consumers greater control over their private information, and give the Federal Trade Commission additional regulatory power over compilers.
As if by design, the hearing’s date was framed by new revelations of consumer data leaks. On its eve, LexisNexis announced that a data breach originally thought to have affected only 30,000 individuals actually touched more than 310,000 people. And during the testimony itself, a LexisNexis executive revealed that 10 consumers whose information inappropriately was accessed had new e-mail accounts set up in their names, or were the victims of credit card fraud.
Shortly after the panelists were dismissed, Polo Ralph Lauren revealed that 180,000 consumers who had made purchases using a General Motors-branded MasterCard may have had their credit cards compromised.
Senate Judiciary Chair Arlen Specter seized on the timing of LexisNexis’ announcement during a question-and-answer period.
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