FPF Submits Comments in Response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Request for Information on Data Brokers

On June 5, the Future of Privacy Forum filed comments with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in response to their Request for Information (RFI) Regarding Data Brokers and Other Business Practices Involving the Collection and Sale of Consumer Information.

In 2021, FPF explored the landscape of the current data broker industry in testimony presented to the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth. Since then, emerging data practices have continued to create potential risks for individuals and to raise novel questions about the scope of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Meanwhile, the exclusion of FCRA-covered activities from the state-level comprehensive privacy laws passed in recent years reinforces the critical need for federal leadership to establish jurisdictional clarity and to address privacy risks. 

FPF’s comments encourage the CFPB to analyze the broad range of business activities that can be considered “data brokerage,” and use the Bureau’s regulatory instruments to address specific risks posed by emerging technologies and business practices, including:

• the use of LLMs and generative AI systems as research tools; 
• the role of “alternative risk scoring” and other forms of algorithmic profiling, particularly in the employment and financial contexts;
• the increasingly important role of data aggregators within the financial system.

FPF’s full comments to the CFPB are available here.