Published: April 2024

Advocates push for national registry to halt data broker abuse

Consumer Action was one of the initial supporters of an effort to prevail upon the FTC to create a national registry to halt data broker abuse.

Consumer Action joined two dozen other organizations in a campaign to urge the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to establish a national registry that would enable consumers to, with one click, opt-out from having their personal information, like home address and phone numbers, sold on data broker websites. Data brokers make money by selling personal information. While the information is often used for marketing purposes, it is increasingly used to perpetrate scams. It has also been used to threaten and harass individuals, from librarians to judges to abortion clinic workers. Similar to the National Do Not Call Registry, which allows consumers to register the home or cell numbers they do not want telemarketers to call, the data broker registry would allow consumers to opt-out from data brokers selling their personal information. The effort is hosted at DoNotDox.com, where anyone who would like to support the effort can add their name to the petition to get a national data broker registry established. (Doxxing refers to the act of publicizing personally identifiable information, usually on the internet, and without the person’s consent). 

Lead Organization

Fight for the Future

More Information

Read the press release here.

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