Tag Archives: Equifax

‘Real Teeth’: Senator’s Bill Would Punish CEOs With Up to 20 Years in Jail for Violating Consumer Privacy Rules

“There need to be consequences when corporations don’t protect your data. My bill will put reckless CEOs in jail if they lie about protecting your personal information.”

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 11-2-201

Facebook co-founder, chairman, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a combined Senate Judiciary and Commerce committee hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill . Screenshot: C-SPAN

At the tail end of a year full of egregious data mining scandals and privacy violations by corporate giants like Facebook, Google, and Equifax—behavior that went virtually unpunished in the United States—Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced a bill on Thursday that would dramatically strengthen internet privacy protections and hit executives who violate the rules with up to 20 years in prison.

“Today’s economy is a giant vacuum for your personal information—everything you read, everywhere you go, everything you buy, and everyone you talk to is sucked up in a corporation’s database. But individual Americans know far too little about how their data is collected, how it’s used and how it’s shared,” Wyden said in a statement. Continue reading →

VP Mike Pence Swings into Senate to Deliver ‘Wet-Kiss-to-Wall-Street’ Tie Breaker

“No wonder Americans think the system is rigged against them,” says Senator Elizabeth Warren. “It is.”

By Jon Queally, staff writer for CommonDreams. Published 10-25-2017

Vice President Mike Pence presiding over the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, during the Senate’s vote on Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos. On Tuesday night, Pence returned to the chamber again to a break another tie. This time it was to make sure it’s easier in the future for financial service companies and other Wall Street darlies to make it easier to rip-off consumers. (Photo: Senate Television)

Just in time to do the bidding of the “rich and powerful,” as one Democratic Senator put it, Vice President Mike Pence was summoned to the Senate chamber on Tuesday night where he cast the tie-breaking vote in order to scrap a federal rule designed to protect consumers from so-called “rip-off clauses” used by Wall Street and other corporations.

While in the end it was two Republicans, Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Kennedy of Louisiana, who joined with Democrats and the Senate’s two Independents in voting against the resolution, Pence broke the 50-50 tie in order to scrap the rule. Continue reading →

‘Most Brazen Corporate Wrongdoer Maneuvers in Memory’: Equifax Forces Potential Victims to Give Up Legal Rights

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) calls data breach “Exhibit A for why we must stop GOP from reversing the CFPB’s rule protecting your right to join class actions”

By Andrea Germanos, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 9-8-2017

“It is despicable that Equifax would exploit consumers’ need for identity theft monitoring to avoid accountability for this devastating breach,” said Amanda Werner, arbitration campaign manager at Public Citizen and Americans for Financial Reform. (Photo: GotCredit/flickr/cc)

Not only did Equifax suffer a massive data breach that potentially compromised the personal data of up to 143 million in the U.S. and then wait 6 weeks to inform the public—the credit-reporting company is directing those who want to know if they were a victim of the breach to a service that forces them into a “rip-off clause” that makes them give up their right to file or join class-action lawsuit against the company.

Robert Weissman, president of advocacy group Public Citizen, called it “one of the most brazen corporate wrongdoer maneuvers in memory.” Continue reading →

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Tag Archives: Equifax

‘Most Brazen Corporate Wrongdoer Maneuvers in Memory’: Equifax Forces Potential Victims to Give Up Legal Rights

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) calls data breach “Exhibit A for why we must stop GOP from reversing the CFPB’s rule protecting your right to join class actions”