Reheated Spam on Privacy Hoax Not Kosher, but It's Harmless

June 17, 2003; Page C10
By Don Oldenburg, Washington Post Staff Writer

It's ba-a-a-ck! If this is summer, that must mean the e-mail is again making the rounds warning that the nation's credit bureaus will soon start handing out your personal financial information to anyone who asks for it.

"Personal information goes public on July 1, 2003!" reads the spam, which provides a toll-free number and steps for opting out of this supposed wholesale data release.

"I'm almost fanatic about protecting my privacy, and I wonder how accurate the information is," says Janet Miller, a college professor from Charlottesville, one of several readers wondering the same thing.

Actually, this hoax is only half-baked.

An almost identical e-mail, except for the date, originated two summers ago when federal law required financial institutions such as banks, investment firms and credit-card and mortgage companies to notify customers of their privacy policies by July 1, 2001, and give opt-out options that limit how much personal financial information could be shared with affiliated companies. It resurfaced about this time last summer bearing a 2002 date. Now here it is again.

"It is a bogus e-mail," says John Ford, chief privacy officer at Equifax, the Atlanta-based credit bureau.

Federal and some state laws prohibit credit bureaus from giving out a consumer's personal financial data to just anyone. "We would never be allowed to do what this e-mail says," says Ford, explaining that the bureaus can provide credit reports only for "permissible purposes under the law" to companies to whom consumers have applied for credit, a checking account, insurance, employment, etc.

"We go through a very stringent set of rules," he adds. "We don't have any customer who is an individual -- they are all businesses and we check them out. Not anybody can just call up and get a credit report -- in fact, it is very difficult."

There is one fact in this otherwise phony e-mail. The telephone number listed (888-567-8688) really is the national opt-out number required by federal law and established in the mid-'90s by the credit-reporting industry. Consumers can call it to opt out from receiving pre-approved credit-card offers in the mail.

The process requires that you provide your home phone number and confirm your address. And, yes, you must also give your Social Security number. Some consumers can't get past that requirement, but be assured the credit bureaus already have your number. "We are required to take responsible procedures to ensure maximum possible accuracy," says Ford. "The Social Security number is essential for us to comply with the law."

But several weeks after returning the paperwork the opt-out center sends, your stream of pre-approved credit card offers will slow to a trickle.

Stealing Cable

After the March 25 column on illegal cable TV decoders, Donald A. Fishman, general counsel at the D.C. Office of Cable Television and Telecommunications, wanted consumers to know that the District takes cable theft seriously.

"D.C. law prohibits the advertisement, manufacture, or sale in the District of descramblers and similar devices which allow the reception of encrypted or unauthorized cable services," says Fishman. "Further, D.C. law prohibits the use of any device to receive cable programming or other services for which a consumer has not paid."

Got a consumer complaint? Question? E-mail details to oldenburgd@washpost.com or write Don Oldenburg, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

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