Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is advocating the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) review efforts to bolster consumer data protection.
Brown forwarded correspondence to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen requesting that FSOC examine financial institutions’ consumer data activities and potential threats to domestic financial stability and security.
“The breadth of personal consumer data that financial institutions have access to and can legally sell or otherwise disclose to commercial entities and to data brokers creates a concerning entry point for bad actors to obtain and use that information for their own purposes,” Brown wrote.
Brown indicated he has previously expressed concerns about the potential risks connected to the sale of consumer financial data to Americans’ security and civil rights.
“Stories of apps and websites used by children for school during the pandemic selling information to data brokers and marketers, opioid treatment recovery apps sharing sensitive data with third parties, and mental health apps tracking and sharing data with third parties highlight a troubling trend,” Brown concluded. “Those stories show that the scope and scale of data shared with third parties creates privacy and security issues, allowing bad actors to specifically target at-risk people and further endanger already vulnerable communities. Financial institutions have access to raw and sensitive data, including data pertaining to the products and services consumers purchase, the precise location and time of such purchases, and the amount spent. They may sell this information to third-party purchasers or data brokers who compile it with personal data collected from other sources.”