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> it's disingenuous to point at some line in some far-away terms and conditions, and say "that authorizes Equifax and two other companies to collect and maintai

> it's disingenuous to point at some line in some far-away terms and conditions, and say "that authorizes Equifax and two other companies to collect and maintain all information on you, in perpetuity, without any option to revoke this grant." To be fair, I'm pretty sure they can legally do that if this was actually the case.

yebyen 9y ago
It's a finer point, but if I have authorized Chase Bank to share data with a credit reporting agency, does that mean I have also authorized the credit reporting agency to retain that data? I don't think it does. Absent any law that says exactly how they may and may not collect and retain such data, you're probably right that it is exactly what it means. The owners of the data (the banks) authorized them, so they are authorized to have the data. It does not change the fact that, if true, the law is an ass. I do not grant power-of-attorney to the credit-holders that I do business with. They are not authorized to sign documents in my name. They should not be able to authorize arbitrary agencies to hold my personal data in an irrevocable fashion. (And if I understand the difference in law between US and Europe, in Europe they would not be able to permanently retain my personal data without any recourse for me to shut it down. But in the US, they may be allowed to do this.)
- rootlocus 9y ago
  > It's a finer point, but if I have authorized Chase Bank to share data with a credit reporting agency, does that mean I have also authorized the credit reporting agency to retain that data? I don't think it does. I think you're placing too many constraints on a hypothetical contract just to support your initial argument. Most likely the contract is carefully written in such a way that it's legal for them to do whatever they wanted to do with your data to begin with. It's pointless arguing over what ifs.
  - yebyen 9y ago
    Only in America. They could not store personal information about us without obtaining permission in Europe, and we would have the right to revoke it for any reason as well. This is not normal, it is dysfunctional. I'm not arguing that it's not legal, I'm arguing that they need to lose their license. (Never mind that no such licensing requirement exists. Like I said, it's a dysfunctional system, and I don't know why we don't have more than 3 credit reporting agencies. It sounds like a great gig!)

yebyen 9y ago

It's a finer point, but if I have authorized Chase Bank to share data with a credit reporting agency, does that mean I have also authorized the credit reporting agency to retain that data? I don't think it does. Absent any law that says exactly how they may and may not collect and retain such data, you're probably right that it is exactly what it means. The owners of the data (the banks) authorized them, so they are authorized to have the data. It does not change the fact that, if true, the law is an ass. I do not grant power-of-attorney to the credit-holders that I do business with. They are not authorized to sign documents in my name. They should not be able to authorize arbitrary agencies to hold my personal data in an irrevocable fashion. (And if I understand the difference in law between US and Europe, in Europe they would not be able to permanently retain my personal data without any recourse for me to shut it down. But in the US, they may be allowed to do this.)

rootlocus 9y ago
> It's a finer point, but if I have authorized Chase Bank to share data with a credit reporting agency, does that mean I have also authorized the credit reporting agency to retain that data? I don't think it does. I think you're placing too many constraints on a hypothetical contract just to support your initial argument. Most likely the contract is carefully written in such a way that it's legal for them to do whatever they wanted to do with your data to begin with. It's pointless arguing over what ifs.
- yebyen 9y ago
  Only in America. They could not store personal information about us without obtaining permission in Europe, and we would have the right to revoke it for any reason as well. This is not normal, it is dysfunctional. I'm not arguing that it's not legal, I'm arguing that they need to lose their license. (Never mind that no such licensing requirement exists. Like I said, it's a dysfunctional system, and I don't know why we don't have more than 3 credit reporting agencies. It sounds like a great gig!)