The Federal Trade Commission announced today that Teletrack, Inc. has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle charges that the company sold credit reports for marketing purposes, in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). According to the FTC's complaint, Teletrack sells credit reports and other services to businesses that mainly serve financially distressed consumers. Teletrack's business customers include pay day lenders, rental purchase stores and non-prime rate auto lenders. These businesses use Teletrack's credit reports to decide whether and on what terms to extend credit to their customers.
Last week, we joined privacy regulators, practitioners and industry representatives from around the world in Jerusalem for the 32nd International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners. On numerous panels, conference participants engaged in lively discussions about privacy compliance and enforcement as well as the future of privacy in light of evolving consumer expectations and advances in technology that tracks and identifies individuals.