Breaking Analysis:  Has Big Brother moved from watching us to watching out for us?
Channel: SiliconANGLE theCUBE
Date: 11/10/2012

Senator Rockefeller, Chairman of the Commerce Committee, announced yesterday they are asking for detailed information on the practices of data brokers that compile and sell information about consumers.  What does this mean for the companies targeted in this inquiry?  Here with his breaking analysis on the data broker investigation is Wikibon Chief Analyst, Dave Vellante.

Rockefeller believes that consumers deserve to know what's being collected about them and how companies profit from their information. What types of consumer information do data brokers typically collect and how do they use that data?  


The Senate investigation represents the second Congressional inquiry into the industry's practices this year. In July, the Bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus began a House inquiry into data compilers, which is ongoing. And the Federal Trade Commission has been looking into the practices of about a dozen major data brokers.  Why is this happening again now and do you think these investigations have merit - are they well-founded?  Or is this just Big Brother feeling like his toes are being stepped on?

Senator Rockefeller sent letters of inquiry to nine different companies, including the three main credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and Transunion, as well as Epsilon and Datalogix, just to name a few.  What did the letters ask for and how have these companies responded to this inquiry?  

Once the Senate has information from these companies, what do you think will come out of this investigation, what kind of action could they take, if any?  


1. What does this mean for consumers?

2. How is this different from other privacy efforts initiated by the government?

3. What's the big data angle on all this? 

4. Is there privacy on the Internet?