Dean William McGeveran Quoted by Star Tribune About the Regulation of Data Brokers

Dean William McGeveran, William S. Pattee Professor of Law, was quoted in the Minnesota Star Tribune about the regulation of “data brokers.” Also known as “people search engines,” these online services are playing a role in the investigation in the murders of Melissa and Mark Hortman. Authorities recovered a notebook from the SUV of the man accused of the shootings that included a number of data brokers to look up personal information. The online services aggregate personal information such as phone numbers, addresses, and family members and display it publicly on the web, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota. Regarding how data brokering is regulated, Dean McGeveran said that, unlike Europe, where it’s assumed that a person would need to give consent for their information to be collected or sold, the U.S. allows data brokers to do almost anything unless explicitly prohibited. Only a handful of states guarantee people the right to remove their data from the web. A Minnesota Law that will guarantee residents the right to request information be deleted and to opt out of data selling will take effect July 31. Dean McGeveran said that enforcement of regulatory laws that do exist can be a challenge. He said, “A lot of the enforcement mechanisms are challenging, partly because other countries have one central privacy law that’s enforced by one central agency, and our privacy laws are all over the place.”