The Federal Trade Commission wants to protect You from Demon Data-Brokers!
Yes!
Get this:
The Federal Trade Commission is calling for a new law that would let people review the vast amounts of information being collected about them as the Internet, smartphones and other technology make it easier to create digital dossiers of just about anyone’s life.
The proposal, is an unusually tough one from a consumer protection agency that prefers to seduce companies into adopting voluntary privacy policies. It comes a month after the Obama administration issued a proposed “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” and urged technology companies, consumer groups and others to work together on developing more safeguards.
The FTC said Congress needs to impose more controls over “data brokers” that profit from the collection and sale of files containing sensitive information that can affect people’s ability to get a job or find a place to live. These data brokers range from publicly traded companies such as Acxiom Corp. to a hodgepodge of small, regional services that may only have two or three employees.
The FTC is pushing for a law that would let consumers see their files and dispute personal data held by information brokers. It would be similar to current federal laws that guarantee consumers free access to their credit reports once a year.
The FTC is recommending that Congress base a data-broker law on a bill that was passed by the House in 2009, but died in the Senate. The FTC also is trying to persuade data brokers to create a centralized website where they identify themselves and disclose how they handle consumer information.
and this:
Everything about you is in Utah - or at least by 2013 it will be.
Specifically, the information will be stored, red flags and all, at the First Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cyber-security Initiative Data Center.
And it’s huge. One million square feet, all to be filled with more technology and data storage than you could imagine., the largest spy centers in the nation.
Plans for the facility are nothing new. Construction has been well underway for a year, and brainstorming for the facility began a decade ago. The NSA has been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the estimated billion dollar data center. Last month in Wired magazine, James Bamford blew the secrecy surrounding the data center wide open in an interview with a whistleblower. (A whistleblower whose own life might b be in jeopardy if any one of six landmark cases including that of Bradley Manning, reached the supreme Court . Depending on what the high court decides the Espionage Act could be used to incarcerate citizens for the simple crime of speaking truth to power. The whistleblower claims the NSA has software that searches domestic folks. This software can reveal everything from target addresses, to web searches to social media sites to email and phone calls. In other words, any communication that looks suspicious are automatically red flagged. Basically, we’re all at risk for being watched.
- KBOO