Zack WhittakerDec 21, 2022

This is such a good but frustrating story:

Data brokers raise privacy concerns — but still get millions from the U.S. government.

Why? Because if you sign up for healthcare, or try to log in to pay your taxes, or access your Social Security benefits, you need... a credit card. Yep, that's how the U.S. government authenticates who you are.... by checking your records against a credit agency.

@alng explains this dumbassery extremely well.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/21/data-brokers-privacy-federal-government-00072600

Data brokers raise privacy concerns — but get millions from the federal government

How an old privacy law and new security demands force Washington to rely on an industry in the crosshairs.

POLITICO
Show threadZack WhittakerDec 21, 2022

It also doesn't make sense to verify people via their credit reports.

The credit agencies, like Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, often collect gobs of information about people without their consent (and no way to opt out). What's worse is that the information is often *wrong*, so good luck trying to verify yourself when the data on you is inherently wrong.

Oh, and not to mention data breaches. How many credit agency data breaches? The data can't be used for verification if it's out there!

Show threadNimrod
@zackwhittaker my family has been victims of identity theft as well as mistaken identity on credit reports. Never was anyone asked for ID even when fraudsters opened new bank accounts.
Dec 21, 2022 at 3:37pmWeb