How Equifax Became a Private IRS

Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS by vuln on Monday January 23, 2023 @09:47PM (#34498486)

Only when you give said company authorization to review your credit worthiness, then they may attempt to pull your credit information.

Your information is not broadcasted to all companies in existence only those who you've authorized (or have been authorized on your behalf by a malicious actor / identify thief).

This is not udp.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS by thephyber on Monday January 23, 2023 @11:14PM (#34499149)

Your first paragraph is true (to the extent that nobody pretends to have your authorization).

Your second paragraph is false, AFAIK. In the USA, credit bureaus are legally allowed to sell lots of your info to debt collectors and financial service companies. (According to DoanLaw.com) this is why you get “prescreening” offers for credit cards, mortgage refis, etc.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS by vuln on Monday January 23, 2023 @11:21PM (#34499198)

I don't disagree that the companies are selling your contact information and most likely some fuzzy information ranges (age, gender, martial status, rent/own, income) that's all that's really needed to snail mail "pre approvals" hint you're not really approved for anything until you sign to allow them to actually pull your credit. Preapproved just means you meet the minimum threshold of potentially making them more money than the cost of a 50 cent envelope/paper/bulk mailing rate.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS by thephyber on Monday January 23, 2023 @11:37PM (#34499336)

Agree that most of the data needed for a generic prescreening is available from lots of data brokerage (doesn’t necessarily need a credit bureau), but that DoanLaw.com article I read to verify my memory states that credit bureaus may legally sell some data points that can only accurately be sourced from a credit bureau.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS by vuln on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @02:33AM (#34500578)

Would you mind sharing the article? I'd like to read more about which specific data points. Thanks!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS by thephyber on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @06:32AM (#34502311)

https://doanlaw.com/false-credit-reporting/personal-financia...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS by ethbr0 on Monday January 23, 2023 @11:28PM (#34499268)

Outside of state laws and HIPAA, what national laws in the United States limit information sharing from a private party?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS by kevin_thibedeau on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @12:04AM (#34499540)

Video rental records is it. Everything else is up for sale.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS by thephyber on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @06:43AM (#34502387)

I believe there are a number of siloed categories:

- HIPPA is for health care providers and their vendors

- Traditional wired telecom has long been protected. And fraud over telecom has a special wire fraud statute.

- Mail thru the USPS

- COPPA for PII of under 13 data

- Federal election law prevents election records used for commercial purposes

- basically all of the government classified data system

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS by alistairSH on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @12:08PM (#34506530)

- FERPA for data held by colleges/unis.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS by Supermancho on Monday January 23, 2023 @11:57PM (#34499481)

> Your information is not broadcasted to all companies in existence only those who you've authorized

Famously, Experian ("freecreditreport.com") sold partially filled form information. This is before submission and up to 9 times. Feel free to go to the site signup today and watch the information being streamed (in a hashed form) from your developer console.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS by hyperman1 on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @04:59AM (#34501715)

This seems a great opportunity. Fill in false information, don't submit it, and watch your credit score raise?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Equifax Became a Private IRS by Supermancho on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @11:59AM (#34506366)

Filling out a form has no bearing on your credit score. This mechanism is leveraged to monetize someone's information independent of that person's credit score or the accuracy of the information.

[ Parent | on HN ]