Customer Data

Just when consumers thought their financial secrets would be off-limits to companies making unsolicited marketing pitches, some of the nation's biggest banks are using a legal loophole to share confidential information with outsiders, even if customers have instructed them not to. Under new privacy rules, financial institutions must disclose the kinds of personal information they collect and give customers an opportunity to limit its release to...

Two privacy groups unhappy about Amazon.com Inc.'s new policies on revealing customer buying habits asked federal regulators Monday to prevent the online retailer from making any disclosures unless shoppers permit them. Junkbusters Corp. and the Electronic Privacy Information Center made the appeal to the Federal Trade Commission, which has intervened when other online retailers changed privacy policies and sought to sell customer data.

Sitting in her cozy sewing nook surrounded by fragrant bolts of leather and suede, with her custom clothing draped festively around the room, Jackie Robbins looks the picture of a successful clothing designer. For 25 years, Robbins has used her creativity with natural textiles to make and sell jackets, pants, skirts and purses to the Malibu glitterati.

Buy.com Inc., a leading online retailer, said that a security breach in its merchandise return system may have exposed thousands of customers' names, phone numbers and addresses over the Internet. The Aliso Viejo company said no credit card information or other sensitive personal data were compromised. The firm, an online superstore with 3 million customers, said it sealed the security hole within three hours of learning about the problem Thursday afternoon. It was the first time that Buy.

Some failed "dot-coms" are releasing information their customers may have thought would remain under lock and key as they scramble to sell assets to appease creditors. Boo.com, Toysmart and CraftShop.com have either sold or are trying to sell customer data that could include information such as phone and credit card numbers, home addresses and even statistics on shopping habits.

Banks have found a gold mine in their customer files, selling names, phone numbers, addresses and even Social Security numbers and account balances to marketers. Until recently, they did this without so much as notifying the customers. Landmark banking reform legislation adopted by Congress last year allowed a little protection, but it fell far short of giving customers real control over disclosure. California, always in the vanguard, may soon remedy that.

In today's digital world, where information is king, enterprises ranging from grocery stores to Internet sites have begun collecting personal data in hopes of improving service to customers. But two important federal rulings last week giving phone companies more leeway to capitalize on their vast stockpile of customer data have drawn criticism from consumer advocates, who say the decisions will enable well-established phone companies to keep rivals at bay.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned an FCC regulation requiring phone companies to obtain customer permission before using data, for marketing purposes, on how customers use their phone service. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2 to 1 that the Federal Communications Commission violated the 1st Amendment when it adopted the regulation last year.

Scores of California banks, thrifts, credit unions and life insurers have begun turning over confidential information about their customers--including account balances and Social Security numbers--to state officials in an effort to comply with a new federal law designed to catch parents who fail to pay child support.

Amid a growing national debate over financial privacy, Bank of America said Friday it would stop sharing information about its customers with telemarketers and third-party companies hoping to sell products or services. Two rival banks, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp, responded with more modest proposals to terminate information-sharing agreements with vendors that hawk nonfinancial products, ranging from roadside assistance programs to travel discounts.