Re: Equifax (Privacy Rights)

[Peter Marshall <techdiff@ix.netcom.com>]

Here's another, recent Equifax item:

"BBBOnLine Privacy Seal Award to Equifax Does Not Go Unnoticed"

Equifax has become the first consumer reporting and data processing
company to receive the privacy trustmark offered by the BBBOnLine
Privacy Program. In order to receive the BBBOnLine Privacy Seal, an
organization must post a clear privacy policy on its Web site, submit to an
independent verification of its online policy and participate in a
comprehensive dispute resolution program run by BBBOnLine.

"Responsible Internet businesses are looking for ways to assure consumers
that personal data is being treated with respect in the online world," said
Equifax President and CEO Thomas Chapman in a recent release. "Because the
Better Business Bureau is a trusted and respected leader, consumers and Web
visitors will be reassured when they visit the Equifax web site or any site
featuring the BBBOnLine Privacy Seal."

Privacy advocates criticized the award in a letter to BBBOnLine Senior Vice
President Russel Bodoff, expressing "astonishment" that the program would
certify a company that, in their words, has "one of the worst records on
privacy in the country." April 17, 1999.

For more information, see:
www.equifax.com/about/news_releases/april99/41599.htm

Peter Marshall

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At 08:45 AM -0700 05/03/99, Andreas von Heydwolff wrote:
>On Equifax and medical data see an older article from Wired:
>
>http://www.wired.com:80/wired/archive/3.09/equifax.html
>
>here is a short excerpt:
>
>-------------------- snip --------------------
>Equifax databanks: stored here is personal and private
>information on just about every man, woman, and child in the
>United States, which is sold as widely as possible to make
>money. [...] Equifax has also been pushing hard into the
>area of consumer medical records. At a March 1995 press
>conference in Atlanta, Equifax and AT&T announced the launch
>of a joint "information assault" on national health care
>problems. Equifax apparently wants to replace the chart in
>my doctor's office with a few blocks of storage spinning in
>some computer. To that end, AT&T will set up a sophisticated
>network allowing my medical records to be accessed and
>downloaded by any doctor or specialist I wish to visit. If
>AT&T and Equifax are successful, they will control the
>nation's largest networked repository of medical records,
>storing the entire patient chart from cradle to grave, and
>collect a fee every time someone sees a doctor. [...] "No
>one has any idea just how many different investigative
>consumer, medical, and insurance records Equifax is involved
>with." [...] "...most people seem unaware of the company's
>existence."
>
>----------------- end of snippet ----------
>
>Andreas v. Heydwolff
>Salzburg, Austria