CYBER WARS - Protecting Consumer Data

Also a Greed File

"FCC chief outlines new plans to protect consumer data online" PBS NewsHour 10/27/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  There are new rules for broadband providers when it comes to collecting and sharing consumer data.  On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission voted for the first time to create protections on the transmission of personal information for broadband providers.  Hari Sreenivasan speaks with Tom Wheeler, chairman of the FCC.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  New rules for broadband providers when it comes to collecting and sharing customer data.

The Federal Communications Commission voted for the first time today to create protections on the transmission of personal information from broadband providers.

Tom Wheeler is the chairman of the FCC.  And he joins me now.

What is a provider going to have to do under these new rules?

TOM WHEELER, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission:  Well, the key thing is that it is the consumers' information.  It's not the network's information.

And the consumer now has the choice to say how they want that information to be used and if they want it to be used.  So, there are really three key things.  One, there has to be transparency, that the consumers have to be told, here's what we're doing with your information.  Two, they have to have choice.  So, do you want to opt in or opt out of this kind of service?

And, three, that data, when it's stored someplace, has to be stored securely and consumers have to know if there is some kind of data breach.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  So, you have also expanded the definition of what is sensitive data.  And some businesses have pushed back, saying, the browsing history, the app usage, Internet companies like Facebook and Google, they already have all that, and you're placing undue burdens on companies like Verizon, AT&T, et cetera.

TOM WHEELER:  But what we're talking about is not the fact that you may go to a dozen sites that each will get a little bit of information.

We're talking about the network that takes you to every site and knows everything you're doing.  And that's the big difference.  You hire the network to deliver you to those sites.  You don't hire the network to take your information without your permission and turn around and resell it.

PERSONAL SECURITY - The Real Threat are Data Brokers, Not Government

"What do data brokers really know about us?" PBS NewsHour 7/6/2014

Excerpts

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Post Edward Snowdwn has the conversation changed, are more people aware now in the last year of not just NSA and the data that they’re gathering, but all the data of them that exists?

JULIA ANGWIN:  Yeah, I think people are more aware.  Although it still surprises me how much people are not aware.

It’s not just the NSA.  All these companies or even when you go to a shopping mall they might be setting up all these kind of WiFi sniffers that kind of ping your phone to see who is walking by, right?

The ubiquity of surveillance is really hard for people to grasp.
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HARI SREENIVASAN:  Do we as consumers have rights to look at the data that a commercial company might have on us and then dispute that, if that’s wrong?

JULIA ANGWIN:  No, we don’t have that right.  So we’re one of the only Western nations that doesn’t have a law that allows us to see the data, that commercial data gatherers have.

So must countries don’t let you see the data that intelligence agencies have, obviously.  But commercial data gatherers in most countries and Canada, and Europe, and the UK.  You can go to them and say, show me the information.  And if it’s wrong you can correct it, or ask for correction, and there’s sort of a dispute process.  But we don’t have that here.

So I tried to find where my data was.  I identified two hundred data brokers, and I was only able to see my files at 13 of them.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Of those 13, were they all accurate?

JULIA ANGWIN:  No, so that’s the other thing.  Of the 13 there were probably about 5 or 6 that were very accurate.

HEALTH - Hospitals Using Data Brokers

"Hospitals turning to data brokers for patient information" PBS NewsHour 6/29/2014

Excerpt

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  A story published a few days ago caught our attention.  It described how hospitals buy information about you to determine how likely you are to get sick and what it would cost to treat you.  For more we’re joined by one of the co-authors, Shannon Pettypiece of Bloomberg News.  So what are they buying and who are they buying it from?

SHANNON PETTYPIECE, Bloomberg News:  Well they are buying the same type of data that retailers have been using for years to target products at you and what we’re talking about here is that information that’s collected by companies called data brokers, which can track every transaction a consumer can make, every purchase they make, with a drug store or a grocery store loyalty card.

They can find out how much your home is worth, what type of car you own.  Even things like your interests, whether you like hiking or rock climbing based off of public databases or even your web browsing history.  And for years, retailers have used this to send you a coupon or to figure out who might want to subscribe to their certain list or product.

Now hospitals are saying, can we use this data this information to try to predict who’s going to get sick and who is going to end up at the emergency room.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  So why are hospitals interested in having this kind of information?

SHANNON PETTYPIECE:  Well under Obamacare they have an increased incentive to keep patients healthy because the law changes the way they are paid.

So under the law, hospitals now get penalized if you come back to the emergency room too frequently and if a hospital isn’t meeting certain patient quality and health outcomes and insurers are following the same mold too.

Insurers no longer want to pay for hospitals who are just doing more and more test and procedures over and over again and they want to be paying for quality so hospitals are going to be held accountable if patients are too sick if patients are coming to the emergency room too frequently.