In the
information age where business is transacted over the internet, you would be
surprised how much information is available about all of us. Search engines
like Google, save and track all of our surfing habits. They know what types of
sites we visit, what we want to buy, how many sites we visit each day, and all of
your preferences. If you have ever ventured to fill out on-line forms, your
personal information is saved and may be used for marketing purposes.
So you
might wonder what if I purchased software that shields my activity and randomly
selects my IP address, might I be able to avoid the lurking eyes? The fact is,
regardless of what you do, your information is available and up for sale.
Companies
are routinely collecting your information and selling it even if you have never
used the internet. Do you think that your earning information is a matter
between you, your employer and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)? Think again.
Here’s why; Equifax, the credit reporting giant, owns a subsidiary called The Work Number. The Work Number has
amassed the world largest database of financial information: 222 million salary
records from thousands of employers. What are they doing with your information?
Companies pay The Work Number to verify information about potential employees
and provide access to your Human Resource information which can include social
security numbers and information on healthcare providers.
Buyers
include Mortgage Lenders, credit card companies, and even debt collectors. In
fact, last year, Equifax was sued by the Federal Trade Commission and settled
for $393,000 due to an improper sale of information about homeowners who were
late on their mortgage payments. There are many other companies who make money
selling your information.
In
December, 2012, a newspaper posted an interactive map showing the names and addresses of all handgun permit
holders in New York's Westchester and Rockland counties on the newspaper's
website. The Newspaper justified its decision by stating that the information
was public and they felt that they had a responsibility to share it.
This is not a new phenomenon. In October, 2007, Verizon Wireless sent a letter to all of
its customers informing wireless subscribers that if they did not opt out
within 30 days, they would begin selling their personally identifiable
information to third parties and affiliates. This information includes all of
the calls that you place or receive on your cell phone (along with
date, time and call duration).
Instgram, a service used by 7.3 million
daily users, recently updated their terms of use effective January 16, 2013 that grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid
and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the
Content that millions of Americans post on or through the Service.
For years, state Democratic parties have been gathering
information about individual voters’ political leanings. They have noted down
the opinions voters shared with canvassers — which candidates they said they
supported or their positions on policy issues.
In February, 2013 a report surfaced revealing data from
millions of Americans during the 2012 election season in the most high tech,
targeted campaign effort in history may be up for sale to credit card
companies, big chain retailers or other commercial interests.
There are many
causes for concern. Electronic data warehouses that collect and maintain such
data attracts hackers and thieves. Credit card companies argue that data mining
collection activities actually save the industry money by protecting the consumer
against illegal use of their credit card. Your buying habits are stored in a
massive database. If you or someone attempts to make a purchase with your
credit card and it deviates from your normal habit, then the card is
immediately shut down until you call and verify your identity and intent.
Does data
sharing open the window to all kinds of discrimination? With the Health Care
Exchanges coming on-line, what if people who have contagious infectious diseases
or socially unacceptable diseases like HIV, medical information is sold?
In the new
information age, technically, everyone is “out of the closet”. Everything known
about you is stored on someone’s computer; housed at massive data mining super
computers, and eventually sold.
Federal Law
allows you to review and dispute information stored about you with credit card
companies. Log on to www.annualcreditreport.com
for a free credit report annually. To verify your information stored in The Work Number database, go to www.theworknumber.com/employees.
Click “help” and then “How to get your employment data report”.
As far as I am aware, the only institutions
that must keep your personally identifiable information secure and confidential
are financial and insurance institutions. Let us hope that it remains this way!
© Carmen Coleman, President and CEO
Lifetime Financial Group, LLC
30 W. Broad Street, Suite 300
Rochester, NY 14614
(585)325-2525
