Internet Company Settles With State Over Selling Names
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- May
- 20
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said his office reached a settlement with USSearch.com for illegally selling the private credit bureau data of thousands of consumers across the nation.
Under the terms of the settlement, USSearch.com has to pay $250,000 in penalties and stop selling personal information.
“Companies with access to a consumer’s private information must do all they can to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said his office reached a settlement with USSearch.com for illegally selling the private credit bureau data of thousands of consumers across the nation.
Under the terms of the settlement, USSearch.com has to pay $250,000 in penalties and stop selling personal information.
“Companies with access to a consumer’s private information must do all they can to keep it private,” Cuomo said. “With the crime of identity theft running rampant across the globe, it is critical that personal data, including sensitive credit bureau information, not be readily available to anyone with Internet access.”
US Search.com, Inc. provides information, such as court records, real estate records and telephone directories, to consumers trying to locate people. For an additional fee, the company would offer businesses non-public personal information from credit reporting agencies – Equifax, TransUnion and Experian – and financial institutions.
Cuomo’s office found that the company was illegally accessing and sellling consumer data compiled by these agencies as an “extra benefit†to business clients by “falsely claiming to have a lawful purpose for the data.”
The data included sensitive information including consumers’ names, aliases, current/prior addresses, telephone numbers and birth dates. The company also accessed Social Security numbers as a way to verify the sensitive information.
The company illegally obtained private consumer information more than 2,385 times, Cuomo said.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 1:49 pm by Joseph Spector.
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Good work by Cuomo. Identity theft is a big problem, and so-called “legitimate” companies shouldn’t be aiding and abetting it.