This little story here illuminates numerous aspects of modern day America that I feel are despicable. Corporate greed, increasing power in the hands of the few, and assinine statements going unchecked.
First, here's the money quote:
Our company felt, and still does ... that it's unconstitutional to cause a public company who has a fiduciary responsibility to return profit to shareholders to give away the product," Chapman said to reporters following a speech at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on Monday. "Most of my shareholder group did not think that giving away our product was the American way.
Link.
The "product" he is referring to is your credit report, information his company has collected about you.
His company's business model is essentially to collect as much financial data about American citizens as possible, use that data to determine each citizen's "credit-worthiness", convince Corporate America to base their decisions off of his findings, and then charge both Corporate America and the American citizens to view the Credit Score. As we all know, he's gotten that plan to work out pretty well.
Equifax maintains credit data on 220 million Americans. The company earned $1.27 billion in revenue last year.
And now he is claiming that it is Un-American for us mere peons to view the data that his company plans to run our life with. His data collection and algorithms can single handedly destroy the financial security of almost all Americans. If there is a mistake, or if there are malicious reportings to the agency, a person's loans, mortgages, and credit card rates can abruptly change, throwing the person into financial ruin. And yet it is Un-American for us to be able to monitor our data without forking over cash.
Chapman was referring to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, which since last December has required credit agencies to provide consumers with a free copy of their credit report every 12 months to check for inaccuracies and fraudulent activity. Chapman said that viewing a credit report once a year wouldn't protect consumers against fraud.
"That's like turning on the smoke alarm once a year," he said.
Huh? Isn't checking your smoke alarm once a year a good thing? And apparently there is reason to be concerned.
He initiated his appearance before the public affairs group after a recent spate of data security breaches made headlines and exposed the personal information of millions of consumers to identity thieves. The data industry is facing increased legislation as a result.
The article goes on to point out that his company has not been in the news lately for the breaches, but he was very squeamish when he was pressed for more information about data security.
Let me go back to the money quote.
Our company felt, and still does ... that it's unconstitutional to cause a public company who has a fiduciary responsibility to return profit to shareholders to give away the product.
You know, he may have something there. I think there may be something wrong with this situation. In fact, I'm positive. Why should an organization that aggregates personal data of American citizens, and uses it to control a significant portion of their daily lives, be beholden to shareholders? This seems like a job for a non-profit organization, somebody who will have the interests of the citizens at heart, instead of the bottom line.
It seems, I don't know, almost Un-American for somebody to put corporate profits ahead of the financial security of the nations citizens.
Update [2005-7-6 16:45:11 by JoeOhioan]:As Elmo says below, Don't forget to get YOUR free credit report today: AnnualCreditReport.