When you shop for insurance on the Internet, Scott Green knew in theory that any personal information he typed into his computer could go anywhere in the world.
But the reality of this theory hit him squarely when he got a call from a telemarketer at a call center. He knew he wasn’t supposed to get calls like that because he’s on the state and federal Do Not Call lists.
When he asked the man trying to sell him health insurance where he was calling from, the answer surprised him: Islamabad.
How in the world could someone from Pakistan be calling to sell him insurance? Green asked the caller where his company has its headquarters, and that answer surprised Green even more: Southlake.
Green was intrigued. He owns a computer business and in the past has helped me inform Watchdog readers of computer vulnerabilities. Several years ago, he showed how easy it is to download personal IRS tax forms from a computer if the user inadvertently leaves the data accessible through open file sharing.
Green took notes of his conversations with the caller and later his supervisor. Afterward, I tracked down the owner of the Southlake company to understand how Green got that call.
Companies’ sharing information gleaned from the Internet isn’t new. What makes this stand out is how personal information now travels around the globe, too. A Federal Trade Commission official told me he had never heard of such a case.
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Turns out that a year or so ago, Green shopped on the Internet for less expensive health insurance. He filled out a questionnaire with detailed answers about his personal health history. Green didn’t realize it at the time, but when he gave the approval for his answers to be submitted, somewhere in the fine print, he also gave approval to share the information with others. That’s how his answers were later sold to a third-party company that provides leads for sales calls. And that’s how, more than a year later, his health information ended up in the hands of a Pakistani telemarketer.
Under federal privacy laws, health information is protected, but an exception is allowed if a company can gain a consumer’s approval.
As readers of the Dave Lieber Watchdog column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram first learned, call center owner Tom Slone of Touchstone Communications said his company employs 280 people working for American companies at a call center on Sir Agha Khan Road in Islamabad. Operations for the 8-year-old company are directed from a Southlake business park.
“We work for a couple of companies in Michigan and New Jersey,” he said. “They take Internet leads, and they give them to us, and we call them.”
As soon as Green told his caller that he was on the Do Not Call list, Slone said, he was immediately added to the company’s internal no-call list.
Anita Allen, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a privacy expert, told me one rule that computer users should remember. “Your readers should know that any information they give anyone on the Internet should be presumed public and shareable unless the information is provided to a reputable company that has explicitly promised confidentiality.”
David Jacobs of the Electronic Privacy Information Center explained: “Once a consumer’s private data is in the hands of a company, there is very little the consumer can do to ensure that it stays secure.
“First, consumers should resist giving out personal information to websites. If it must be given out, then consumers should be wary of checking boxes that automatically put them on the mailing or call list of marketers.”
Privacy policies are not about protecting consumer privacy, he said, but about what a company will do with personal information it collects.
“Companies have done much to encourage or deceive consumers into revealing personal information,” he said. “The privacy policies or consent agreements that consumers sign before registering for a service are often so long and unclear that it is not realistic to expect customers to read or understand them.”
Though Green was bugged by the call, he praised the way the Southlake company handled his many questions about why he was called and who had called him. He had no trouble getting a Touchstone supervisor on the phone to answer his follow-up questions. He was surprised to find Slone’s phone number available on Touchstone’s website, too.
Compare that with another telemarketing call he received a few days later. When he asked the caller where she was calling from, she answered Los Angeles, but the caller ID displayed an Atlanta area code. When he asked her about the discrepancy, she hung up.
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