4 ms·

In the US? No time soon. The party in power is cutting regulations, not adding them. The customer has to watch their own back. It seems simple. The free marke

In the US? No time soon. The party in power is cutting regulations, not adding them. The customer has to watch their own back. It seems simple. The free market will kill incompetent companies, right? Customers see data breaches and stop doing business with them. Sounds good in theory but realistically, customers don't have time to do the research required for a completely free market to self regulate.

emodendroket 8y ago
It's not clear how I, an individual consumer, even choose to avoid doing business with Equifax.
- bluGill 8y ago
  You could make sure you put on all loan applications that they will not check Equifax. Probably they won't even know how to handle that though and will either reject you, or ignore it.
- dv_dt 8y ago
  Don't do business with them is a bogus missive, but you could lock your credit with all the agencies and only unlock the agencies you care to do business with when requested. But that often makes things difficult and not all users of that data will have an account with an alternative provider. (nor is the locked access the only product for which your data is offered...)
FilterSweep 8y ago
It has less to do with research, even. Equifax, like many Fortune-N companies, has a heavily funded sales and PR team working actively against your individual research. Should you, as an individual, apply to a company or attempt to buy a product that has been “sold” the Equifax product suite, you’re still beholden to Equifax services(or leave without the job or house). You’re effectively stuck, unless you have the resources(time/money) to look for employers or products that stay away from Equifax.
- InitialLastName 8y ago
  > Should you, as an individual, apply to a company or attempt to buy a product that has been “sold” the Equifax product suite, you’re still beholden to Equifax services(or leave without the job or house). Worse, there's pretty much no way to tell to which companies and products this applies. This isn't some fast food restaurant poisoning its customers. None of Equifax's "customers" got screwed by their data leak, only the targets of their "product" caught the ramifications.
monksy 8y ago
> parties in power We haven't had a lot of politicians that have been pro-human/worker/consumer rights in a while. We got a consumer regulatory agency. But when did you see them push back against actual troublemakers.
- givinguflac 8y ago
  The consumer protection agency in the US was making great strides in pushing back against many bad players, including predatory lenders. Then the republicans gutted and defunded it, ending many investigations and siding with the scum feeding off the poor.
  - komali2 8y ago
    Classic strategy, by the way. Defund, then point to it and say "see, it doesn't work!"
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  - tunap 8y ago
    And then jump on board? I always knew Timmy was just like Robin Hood... only different. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/private-equity-firms-are-the-new-predatory-lenders-report/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/private-equity-firms-are-the-ne... Note to self: one flavor of Kool Aid is good, the other flavor is bad.
- MichaelApproved 8y ago
  > parties in power Sounds like the usual "both parties are the same" nonsense. I saw them push back all the time. They recovered billions for consumers. The success of the agency is written about in many publications. Read up on it before putting it down. One party enacted consumer protections and another party is working to rip it apart. There is a clear difference between the two. Here's an example article highlighting the success of the agency and the Republican desire to end it http://fortune.com/2017/01/27/donald-trump-cfpb-consumer-protection-financial-bureau-elizabeth-warren/ http://fortune.com/2017/01/27/donald-trump-cfpb-consumer-pro...
ams6110 8y ago
We don't need regulations, necessarily. If people have been harmed, they can sue for damages.
- givinguflac 8y ago
  Yeah that $500 from Equifax will definitely fix broad systemic issues affecting the whole of society. Good call!
- Buttercode 8y ago
  Good luck suing Equifax because you couldn't buy a home with a mortgage because Equifax had a record of you having a "low credit score" using data they collected on you that you didn't consent to. The data Equifax collects on you is both damaging and non-consensual.
  - ams6110 8y ago
    Assuming the data collected are not in error, you mostly did consent to it. Read the fine print of any lease, loan, or other credit agreement. They almost all say they will report payment history (particularly late or non-payment) to credit bureaus.
    - reaperducer 8y ago
      They almost all say they will report payment history (particularly late or non-payment) to credit bureaus. If that was the only data reported to credit bureaus, that would be great. But "reputation data" is increasingly becoming important in this sphere. Are you Facebook friends with people with a low credit score? Do you drive through a dodge neighborhood on the way to work? Do you watch the wrong kinds of movies? Buy liquor? Stream the wrong shows? It's all up for grabs, and with the "credit score" formulae locked up as trade secrets, there's no way to determine if your mortgage denial was because you were one day late with a cell phone bill, or because you stop at a red light next to a pawn shop enough times that your phone thinks you're a regular customer.
      - 8y ago
neffy 8y ago
And in practice, we also don´t have completely free markets, and even if we did, it´s highly unlikely that they would function the way current economic theory believes that they would.
pietroglyph 8y ago
The best part about the Equifax breach is that the people whose data was released weren't even the customers. Pretty hard to stop doing business if there wasn't any in the first place.
r00fus 8y ago
The party in power is notorious for hypocrisy. Are no-bid contracts "free market"?

emodendroket 8y ago

It's not clear how I, an individual consumer, even choose to avoid doing business with Equifax.

bluGill 8y ago
You could make sure you put on all loan applications that they will not check Equifax. Probably they won't even know how to handle that though and will either reject you, or ignore it.
dv_dt 8y ago
Don't do business with them is a bogus missive, but you could lock your credit with all the agencies and only unlock the agencies you care to do business with when requested. But that often makes things difficult and not all users of that data will have an account with an alternative provider. (nor is the locked access the only product for which your data is offered...)

FilterSweep 8y ago

It has less to do with research, even. Equifax, like many Fortune-N companies, has a heavily funded sales and PR team working actively against your individual research. Should you, as an individual, apply to a company or attempt to buy a product that has been “sold” the Equifax product suite, you’re still beholden to Equifax services(or leave without the job or house). You’re effectively stuck, unless you have the resources(time/money) to look for employers or products that stay away from Equifax.

InitialLastName 8y ago
> Should you, as an individual, apply to a company or attempt to buy a product that has been “sold” the Equifax product suite, you’re still beholden to Equifax services(or leave without the job or house). Worse, there's pretty much no way to tell to which companies and products this applies. This isn't some fast food restaurant poisoning its customers. None of Equifax's "customers" got screwed by their data leak, only the targets of their "product" caught the ramifications.

monksy 8y ago

> parties in power We haven't had a lot of politicians that have been pro-human/worker/consumer rights in a while. We got a consumer regulatory agency. But when did you see them push back against actual troublemakers.

givinguflac 8y ago
The consumer protection agency in the US was making great strides in pushing back against many bad players, including predatory lenders. Then the republicans gutted and defunded it, ending many investigations and siding with the scum feeding off the poor.
- komali2 8y ago
  Classic strategy, by the way. Defund, then point to it and say "see, it doesn't work!"
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- tunap 8y ago
  And then jump on board? I always knew Timmy was just like Robin Hood... only different. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/private-equity-firms-are-the-new-predatory-lenders-report/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/private-equity-firms-are-the-ne... Note to self: one flavor of Kool Aid is good, the other flavor is bad.
MichaelApproved 8y ago
> parties in power Sounds like the usual "both parties are the same" nonsense. I saw them push back all the time. They recovered billions for consumers. The success of the agency is written about in many publications. Read up on it before putting it down. One party enacted consumer protections and another party is working to rip it apart. There is a clear difference between the two. Here's an example article highlighting the success of the agency and the Republican desire to end it http://fortune.com/2017/01/27/donald-trump-cfpb-consumer-protection-financial-bureau-elizabeth-warren/ http://fortune.com/2017/01/27/donald-trump-cfpb-consumer-pro...

ams6110 8y ago

We don't need regulations, necessarily. If people have been harmed, they can sue for damages.

givinguflac 8y ago
Yeah that $500 from Equifax will definitely fix broad systemic issues affecting the whole of society. Good call!
Buttercode 8y ago
Good luck suing Equifax because you couldn't buy a home with a mortgage because Equifax had a record of you having a "low credit score" using data they collected on you that you didn't consent to. The data Equifax collects on you is both damaging and non-consensual.
- ams6110 8y ago
  Assuming the data collected are not in error, you mostly did consent to it. Read the fine print of any lease, loan, or other credit agreement. They almost all say they will report payment history (particularly late or non-payment) to credit bureaus.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    They almost all say they will report payment history (particularly late or non-payment) to credit bureaus. If that was the only data reported to credit bureaus, that would be great. But "reputation data" is increasingly becoming important in this sphere. Are you Facebook friends with people with a low credit score? Do you drive through a dodge neighborhood on the way to work? Do you watch the wrong kinds of movies? Buy liquor? Stream the wrong shows? It's all up for grabs, and with the "credit score" formulae locked up as trade secrets, there's no way to determine if your mortgage denial was because you were one day late with a cell phone bill, or because you stop at a red light next to a pawn shop enough times that your phone thinks you're a regular customer.
    - 8y ago

neffy 8y ago

And in practice, we also don´t have completely free markets, and even if we did, it´s highly unlikely that they would function the way current economic theory believes that they would.

pietroglyph 8y ago

The best part about the Equifax breach is that the people whose data was released weren't even the customers. Pretty hard to stop doing business if there wasn't any in the first place.

r00fus 8y ago

The party in power is notorious for hypocrisy. Are no-bid contracts "free market"?