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Comment by zelon88 | Hacker News Reader

Equifax has the unique ability to collect the most private information available, even when they have never or will never interact with that person.

I think the entire credit system needs to be changed. If credit bureau's can't be responsible then citizens should get a choice in the matter. These companies have us by the balls and we have no recourse. It's a monopoly complete with price fixing and everything, except the price is privacy and you don't get any options.

It reminds me of an episode of Hotel Hell I saw where the front desk stored all guest credit card numbers, expiration date, and security code in a white lined notebook unlocked behind the counter. Gordon Ramsay walks up to an unstaffed counter, grabs the book, and walks off with it.

Now imagine that the hotel blatantly admits to not giving a shit about your credit card details, and you don't have the option of checking out and taking your business elsewhere.

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I'm normally not a fan of congressional hearings where everyone is trying to grandstand, but this one was particularly good.

The congresswoman asked the Equifax CEO to provide his birthday and social security number publicly for the record. He of course refused and when asked why, he said because that is sensitive information.

All the while, Equifax attorneys are arguing in court that there is no harm in leaking private data like SSNs and thus they shouldn't be held liable for any damages.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90312551/watch-a-congresswoman-d...

That's all well and good, but what was the concrete result of the hearing? Nothing actually happened and Equifax continues merrily along doing what it's always done.

Congressional hearings are about informing law makers (and also for grandstanding). They are not intended to provide immediate results in the way a trial would. The results if any will be in the form of legislation at a later date.

Results can come a lot sooner and more incrementally than that. For example, there were congressional hearings very recently involving Michael Cohen and merely days later, document requests were issued as a result of the statements he made during he hearing.

So where are the inquiries? Where are the task forces? Where are the subpoenas? Where are the subcommittees? It's been over a year. Are you confident with "changes will come at a later date"? Seems to me like changes will happen never.

http://fortune.com/2018/09/07/equifax-data-breach-one-year-a...

Oh I'm not at all confident changes will come. If the hearings aren't convincing enough to members of congress then nothing at all will happen. It seems like that was the case with congress as it existed at the time of the hearings. Perhaps things are different now that we are post-election and the makeup is different.

My point is one shouldn't expect immediate effects from a congressional hearing. They are merely the start of a long process that can get derailed at many points along the way.

Equifax CEO did not commit crimes. Can’t say the same about Cohen and inquiries spawned off of his testimonies.

If I recall, they sold tons of stock before the leaks leaked.

To a non-american, the promptness and lack of even thinking or hesitation with which Michael Cohen answered and the swift "results" it produced make it seem almost certain that the questions from AOC and others were were pre-coordinated "set pieces" designed to provide some kind of "parallel construction" justification for the requests. I wouldn't put much store by these things.

Wow, that’s one hell of a conspiracy theory.

That's all well and good, but what was the concrete result of the hearing?

Some politicians got an opportunity to issue strong statements that they can later leverage during reelection?

If only there were some kind of oversight by a government agency made to protect consumers from these types of things when the market based approach fails. This type of agency or bureau would be there to protect people when there was no legal recourse otherwise and establish rules so that corporate entities and businesses were beholden to someone. Meh, I'm sure the market will sort it out since you can just take your credit to another provider right?

You seem to be describing the CFPB?

I think he missed the sarcasm tag...

All that would be required for reform, I think, is a small revision to the FCRA. Remove their near-immunity from libel law and let our famous hunger for civil suits do the rest.

I've heard about artists being told to destroy their artwork for obscenity or copyright reasons, but how many companies have been court ordered to purge their databases in the US?

Here's a clip of the Hotel Hell episode featuring the credit card book: https://youtu.be/0dtZ7a8K1Ow?t=136

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