CFPB considering new rules to crack down on data brokers

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is considering new rules to crack down on data brokers amid a wider push to reduce risks from the rapidly expanding capabilities of artificial intelligence. 

CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said at a White House roundtable on Tuesday that the agency is looking to potentially bring data brokers — firms that harvest and sell consumer data — under the purview of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act grants various protections to consumers regarding background reports that are assembled with information about them, such as safeguards to ensure accurate information and restrictions on its use.

Under one proposal floated Tuesday by Chopra, data brokers would be defined as consumer reporting agencies and the sale of data about payment history, income and criminal records would be treated as a consumer report, triggering additional requirements under the law.

The CFPB is also considering a rule that would clarify whether identifying information contained in consumer reports produced by credit reporting companies, known as “credit header” data, is also considered a consumer report.

Such a rule could limit “the ability of credit reporting companies to impermissibly disclose sensitive contact information that can be used to identify people,” Chopra said.

The CFPB director warned Tuesday that artificial intelligence and other predictive decision-making technologies increasingly rely on mass amounts of data, which can be produced by data brokers and have “big implications.”

“This also has big implications when it comes to critical decisions, like whether or not we will be interviewed for a job or get approved for a bank account or loan,” Chopra said. “It’s critical that there’s some accountability when it comes to misuse or abuse of our private information and activities.”