Chairpersons Jackson and Correa, and members of the Senate Judiciary and Banking Committees:

 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the topic of data breaches.

 

I’m Beth Givens, the director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. We are a nonprofit consumer education and advocacy organization, based in San Diego and established 21 years ago in 1992.

 

Assembly Privacy Hearing: Online Data Brokers and Fair Information Practices

 

Thank you Chairman Chau of the Select Committee on Privacy … and members of the Committee for the opportunity to speak at this hearing on Online and Mobile App Ecosystems.  

 

Mobile is the consumer technology of the moment. The number of applications available to mobile device users appears set to continue its exponential growth. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse decided to look at the information practices of one category of mobile apps in which the sensitivity of personal information is particularly significant—those that fall under the broad heading of health and fitness. The information in the reports below comes from our in-depth research and analysis of 43 popular health and fitness apps.

Summer is here and school is out. Kids and teens have a lot of free time which means they will be on their (or your) mobile devices even more than normal.  Smartphones, tablets and other devices provide kids with countless beneficial apps and tools they can use to stay connected, entertain themselves, and learn. At the same time, these can also present privacy risks.

 

In researching our latest Fact Sheet 38: A Renter’s Guide to Privacy, we compiled a list of data brokers that provide tenant screening services to landlords.  We shared this information with the Federal Trade Commission and indicated our concerns. In general, we receive more complaints about the data broker industry than any other privacy topic.