Chairman Rockefeller: 'Data brokers' worse than NSA spying

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said tracking by "data brokers" is worse than surveillance by the US government.

During a hearing on the data broker industry, Chairman Rockefeller compared data brokers’ tracking of Americans to government surveillance of Americans, saying the latter is less concerning. “The [National Security Agency] is so secure in its protection of privacy as compared to this group that we’re talking to, these data brokers,” he said. “It’s not even close.” Chairman Rockefeller also repeated accusations that three data brokers -- Acxiom, Experian and Epsilon -- failed to turn over information to the committee as it conducted its investigation into the data broker industry. “I’m putting these three companies on notice today,” he said, for “continuing to resist oversight” and failing to provide the requested information about where companies get information about consumers and to whom they sell that information. Sen Rockefeller said he is “considering further steps, and I have steps ... that I can take to get this information.”