The Federal Trade Commission has warned ten data broker companies that their practices may violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act after a secret-shopping operation revealed that the companies were willing to sell consumer data without verifying consumer identities as required by law.
Find out how to use Google Tools to manage social media content and campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp, an interactive online event starting June 6. Monica Morse (left), head of social & SMB solutions at Google, will familiarize you with a wide range of Google tools such as trends, Google+ and Hangouts. Learn more about our our twelve event speakers and register here. 
Facebook’s move to allow marketers to import consumer lists obtained through data broker companies, announced today, met with substantial concern from privacy advocates.
Facebook will expand its Custom Audiences program to allow marketers to target users based on data they’ve acquired from data brokers, according to a report in AdAge that cites sources involved in the decision-making process.
The Federal Trade Commission today furthered its inquiry into data brokers, or companies that develop and trade data about consumers, sending letters to several major firms today asking them to explain how they obtain consumer data and how they are accountable to the consumers whose profiles they peddle.
The Congressional Bi-Parisan Privacy Caucus today released letters from nine major data brokers in the U.S., shedding light on the practices of an industry that has received little scrutiny.
A study released Monday by TrustedID found that 80 percent of respondents did not have a clear idea of how their consumer data is collected and managed by data brokers. Eighty percent also thought there should be a centralized online location where consumers could manage the information data brokers gather about them. No such site currently exists. Three-quarters thought they should be informed of the data collected about them.
