Fighting Corporateering

Privacy

Consumer Watchdog fights to protect your privacy and put and end to identity theft. We believe that banks and corporations should be required to get your permission before trading or selling private information such as your Social Security number and bank account balances. We believe that on-line medical databases must be protected so that our sensitive health information does not fall into the hands of health care corporations and drug companies interested in using the information for their profit.
  • Fought to protect consumers from identity theft by requiring tough new protections for credit card databases.
  • Researched city Corporateering Quotients grading cities on privacy protections.
  • Exposed the practice of auto and home insurers using credit scores as an excuse to raise rates and discriminate against certain communities.
  • Demonstrated to policymakers how almost everyone's private information is at risk without stronger laws by purchasing the social security numbers and home addresses of key Bush cabinet officials over the Internet for as little as $26 each.
  • Fought federal legislation deigned to undermine state privacy laws by hiring a skywriter to print the first five digits of Citigroup CEO Charles Prince's Social Security number over midtown Manhattan.

Recent Articles:

A Survivor -- Jackie Speier

By Ina Jaffe, ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (NPR)
April 9, 2008

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Bill Aims to Open Medical Records

By Dan Abendschein, WHITTIER DAILY NEWS (California)
March 16, 2008

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Consumer Advocate Speaks Out Against Bill Allowing Invasions of Medical Privacy

CONTACT: Jerry Flanagan, 310-392-0522, ext. 319
March 12, 2008

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Blue Cross Halts Letters Amid Furor

By Lisa Girion & Jordan Rau, LOS ANGELES TIMES
February 13, 2008

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Insurance Discount Tied to Auto Data

By Joel J. Smith, THE DETROIT NEWS (Michigan)
January 17, 2007

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Recent Posts in Fighting Corporateering:

San Francisco patient privacy compromised by fundraiser

May 2, 2008 | Posted by Carmen Balber

Here's a perfect example of why a non-medical company with no relationship to the patient should never be allowed access to patient information without permission first - as a ...

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Should ad execs have access to your medical records?

May 2, 2008 | Posted by Carmen Balber

A bill passed its second California Senate committee this week that would give an ever-wider circle of companies access to Californians' private medical information. SB 1096 by Senator Ron Calderon would allow pharmacies to give...

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For the Rest of Us, Tabloids Are Not the Problem

April 7, 2008 | Judy Dugan

It's amazing how fast Gov. Schwarzenegger reacts when it's his wife, Maria Shriver, whose medical records are being snooped. "This kind of practice has been happening all over the state, wherever there's celebrities involved" including himself, Schwarzenegger said at an unrelated news conference today. He reiterated that his administration is "working with UCLA," where the leaks were uncovered by an excellent LA Times investigation--and hadn't even been reported  to state regulators.

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Allstate's 'good hands' groping around in your pocket

April 7, 2008 | Posted by Carmen Balber

Allstate made a surprise decision to release internal documents about claims handling procedures that they've been fighting to keep secret in court for over a decade. The documents...

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Still in Verizon customer service hell

March 31, 2008 | Posted by John M. Simpson

I reported last week on my efforts to receive a promised television set for signing up with Verizon's FiOS Triple Freedom plan.  The saga continues...

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How Consumer Watchdog Fights Corporateering