September 3, 1989

BIG BROTHER is the least of your problems. A new breed of entrepreneur, the “information broker,” is gaining electronic access to your credit histories, your spending patterns, your phone numbers (including the numbers you dial) and every other damn thing about you, and selling them ˆ whether you like it or not.

As recently as July, an “electronic investigator” was advertising on the CompuServe Information Service, promising “quick and inexpensive” skip traces, civil and criminal information on individuals and missing persons, national address updates, neighbor searches, Social Security number tracking, personal credit data and more. “If it’s out there, we’ll find it,” said the ad.

I don’t know about you, but that makes my skin crawl. And there’s plenty more like this guy out there.

Business Week did a fantastic job reporting the scary (lack of) privacy issue in its Sept. 4 cover story, but loyal readers will note that I’ve been honking about it for a couple of years. And even the Business Week story didn’t mention a big electronic privacy bill now in the California Senate.

The last piece of legislation that requested legal protection for electronic information, introduced by California Assemblywoman Gwen Moore, D-L.A., in 1987-88, was “retired” because the powers-that-be figured the law was sufficient as it stood.

Thankfully, Moore introduced another bill, AB 539, called the Personal Information Integrity Act, designed to hobble the computer snoops who stand to make money off finding out ˆ and passing on ˆ the details of your life to whoever can pay the price.

AB 539 provides many protections aimed especially at what are being called “superbureaus,” the agencies which analyst Bob Jacobson of Moore’s office calls “an unofficial, unlicensed investigative service which relies on computer technology to accumulate data” from credit agencies and government agencies.

Though the bill doesn’t stop superbureaus from passing information, it would require them to notify you what information was being distributed and to whom, give you a copy if you request, and prove that confidential information was staying that way.

The Direct Marketing Association, American Express, American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and the California Association of Photocopiers and Process Servers are opposed to AB 539.

TRW, the big credit bureau, isn’t officially opposed to AB 539 even though it sells information lists to superbureaus. But a letter from Moore to Michael Jackson of TRW in Redondo Beach quotes a letter she received from Jackson, who stated such a bill “outlaws technology” and “stifle(s) innovation or imagination.”

Let’s talk about imagination. In April, I clipped a story from the United Airlines magazine about credit card companies and the services they provide.

American Express, for one, was boasting about using technology to analyze customer spending. The company is “betting the ranch” on its $100 million Genesis Project, according to a quote from Kenneth Chenault, executive VP of AE’s Platinum/Gold Card division. The program’s goal, the story said, is to “make sure the company’s nearly 300 mainframes and minicomputers can create dossiers” on the tastes of cardholders.

“If a cardmember is traveling to Paris, we could develop a personalized itinerary before he even gets there,” said Chenault. “We’ll know his taste in restaurants, special interests and shopping, and we could work with establishments to arrange even big-ticket purchases.”

How dare they! I don’t want anybody assembling a dossier on me for any reason. The whole thing smacks of “Man from U.N.C.L.E.” Membership should indeed have its privileges, and a snoopy marketing analysis of where I spend my money is not one of them.

Jacobson of Gwen Moore’s office says he doesn’t think building dossiers fall under the existing authorization of the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, which means AE’s activities might be limited under the domain of AB 539.

Parties interested in the bill, including the California Apartment Association, Crimeline, GTE California and State Farm Insurance Co. will meet with Moore and other legal experts in Sacramento on Thursday to hash out the bill’s final form.

You can go to listen, though you can’t participate in the discussion. I’m sure it will be very informative. If you care about keeping your personal life private, I suggest you call Moore’s office for information on the bill, and call or write everyone from the governor to your state representatives urging them to vote yes on AB 539.