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CDT Files FTC Complaint Against Spokeo, Inc.

Today we filed a complaint with the FTC and multiple state attorney generals' offices against online data broker and aggregator Spokeo, Inc. We hope the FTC will view this complaint as an opportunity to tackle the growing issue of online — and offline — data aggregators offering unregulated consumer profiles.

Spokeo offers detailed profiles about millions of Americans on its website, Spokeo.com.  These profiles include highly personal information, including religious and ethnic background, judgments about shopping and recreational habits, and information about family members and roommates.  Spokeo also purports to offer “Credit Estimate” and “Wealth Level” ratings for the millions of persons in its database, and actively encourages employers to access its database in evaluating potential hires.

Consumers have no access to the data underlying Spokeo’s conclusions, are not informed of adverse determinations based on that data, and have no opportunity to learn who has accessed their profiles.

Our full complaint is available here.