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Tip: A Personal Data Disclosure You Should Know About
Posted on Nov 12, 2006 by Tom Fragala
Most of us know about the free annual credit report we are entitled to by federal law. Did you know that the same law also entitles you to a free disclosure report from certain data brokers? A data broker, loosely defined, is a company that typically provides some kind of background checks on individuals and businesses.
One of these brokers is called ChoicePoint. And you can, entirely for free, find out what data they have stored on YOU. Go to their website www.ChoiceTrust.com. Click on the link "REVIEW YOUR FACT ACT DISCLOSURE REPORTS." You will have to enter sensitive personal data, there is no way around that. And you'll have to answer several questions to confirm your identity. If you do get your free disclosure report, I recommend that you print it and save it somewhere for your records. If you find some incorrect stuff on there, ChoicePoint doesn't help you clear it up--you have to go to the source.
Update: There was a comment posted saying that giving your information to Choicepoint is a terrible idea, since they are behind the infamous 2005 data breach. I agree that we should always be wary of how we hande our sensitive data. But the commenter left out what has happened since Choicepoint's data breach. Even their most vocal critics admit they are doing a good job. Read this NY Times article from 11/12/2006 for more details. Also, you need to realize that CHoicepoint probably already HAS your sensitive data. So you likely aren't giving them anything they don't already have. And it's up to you, the reader, to decide if you prefer to know what a background check on you will say. I prefer to know and I am OK with sending my authentication data to Choicepoint to get my free report. It doesn't mean I trust them implicitly--just that I measured the risk and felt it was worth it. It's a decision we all must make individually.
Filed under: Identity Theft, Tips
Tags: choicepoint, choicetrust, data broker, disclosure, identitytheft, idtheft, report
Comments
Hardas Kripalani on Nov 13, 2006
Doing exactly as you have suggested did not result in getting any kind of free information.
May be, ChoicePoint changed its screens after you visited.
First clicking "REVIEW YOUR FACT ACT DISCLOSURE REPORTS." takes you to log in screen for "New Member" or "Existing Members."
Clicking "New Member" takes you to screen requiring you to provide "User name", "Pass word", and "Email Address"
First I balked. However, I reluctantly provided this information.
Same screen has an option for receiving information on ChoicePoint products via email, which is pre-checked as "No", and I left it at that.
Then you are required to agree to the "Terms and Conditions of Use" and you are not allowed to print these. Only view on screen.
I reluctantly clicked "I agree"
Next you are taken to the screen which tells you that there is no product to which you subscribed.
Thus there is no free report available at ChoicePoint. ChoicePoint is only baiting you to subscribe to some of their product.
An Identity Thief may be able to steal my personal information, by paying some small money to ChoicePoint. I am not allowed to get my free report.
Same thing is now happening with the three principal CRAs. Only until March 2006 or about that time, one was able to obtain free report either on the Internet or vial mail. Now they are giving you a run around. They are requiring you to furnish proof of Id and mailing address, even though the mailing address has not changed for over 30 years. And, even after the proof is sent twice, they are sitting tight with no response.
I am almost feeling like reporting "fraud alert." Someone could have switched the proof of address mailed to one of the CRAs.
======
Hardas,
Sorry, this comment got cought in my comment spam filter (nto sure why).
I was able to get my disclosure report from Choicepoint. I am very sorry there was a glitch with yours.
But you make a good point. Are these data brokers and creidt bureaus doing anything purposfully to reduce the number of report requests. If true, that would probably require in inside whistleblower to come forward to prove it. If it did happen, it would (and should) be a massive scandal resulting in major fines and possibly criminal prosecution. But we need to remember that the FTC is the only agency that oversees them and the FTC isn't law enforcement--even through they have investigators. So it takes consumers reporting problems to the FTC in order for them to take action. (http://www.ftv.gov).
--Tom
Anonymous on Nov 13, 2006
Hi Tom,
Normally I think you are providing a great service to folks with ID theft issues. However, advising people to give their information to ChoicePoint is not one of your better recommendations. ChoicePoint is probably one of the worst data-breach cases in the history of ID Theft, and I cannot stress strongly enough to people to NOT EVER use their services.
This is from January of this year-
"Consumer data broker ChoicePoint, Inc., which last year acknowledged that the personal financial records of more than 163,000 consumers in its database had been compromised, will pay $10 million in civil penalties and $5 million in consumer redress to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that its security and record-handling procedures violated consumers’ privacy rights and federal laws. The settlement requires ChoicePoint to implement new procedures to ensure that it provides consumer reports only to legitimate businesses for lawful purposes, to establish and maintain a comprehensive information security program, and to obtain audits by an independent third-party security professional every other year until 2026."
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