FTC warns companies that ‘big data’ comes with the potential for big problems:
Companies are tracking more data about consumers than ever. Practically every click you make online creates new records in some distant database, and your real world actions, too, can increasingly be tracked through your mobile phone or new commercial surveillance advances.
But the Federal Trade Commission, one of the government’s chief privacy watchdogs, just warned companies to think twice about how they use those vast data troves.
The agency on Wednesday released a new report that advises companies on how to avoid hurting the most vulnerable as they push further into the booming “big data” economy. For example, lenders can’t refuse to offer loans to single people or offer them less favorable terms even if big data analytics suggests single people are less likely to repay loans than married people, the report said. That would violate the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
Source: Washington Post