Argyle, a payroll connectivity and data portability provider that lets consumers securely connect their employment records to companies’ apps and websites, is urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to examine the anti-competitive and anti-consumer practices of some of the nation’s largest data brokers.
In an open letter sent to the FTC this week, Argyle requests an investigation into providers of income and employment verification data, including Equifax and Experian. The letter outlines that these legacy institutions engage in unfair, deceptive and anti-competitive practices to collect information that covertly capitalize on non-permissioned data. The letter states, “The nation’s largest credit reporting agencies have used their historically dominant positions to collect payroll records on millions of Americans without their consent, which they then sell to lenders, landlords, debt collectors, and other customers as part of their workforce verification services.”
“The era of non-consent is over – employment data should be owned by the individual it represents,” said Argyle CEO and Founder Shmulik Fishman. “This might seem obvious, but for 70-plus years, consumer data has been sold by credit agencies to just about anyone. The addition of non-authorized employment data is the latest information to be collected, packaged, and resold without an individual’s knowledge.”
Argyle is calling for the modernization of financial services built through the practices of buying, selling, and reselling payroll data without a worker’s knowledge or permission. Specifically, they are asking the FTC to examine outdated models that presume aggregators own a consumer’s personal information, and that data protection and privacy is merely about security instead of one’s right to data ownership.
“The future of data privacy is data in the hands of the individual, but only if we make user consent both an industry and legal standard. That means forward-looking and innovative businesses, along with employers who view data access as a basic right, should be working with consent-based services like Argyle and our peers,” said Fishman.
Argyle’s mission is to provide consumers with the tools they need to take back control of their employment and payroll data. Their platform gives individuals complete control over the retention and removal of their own data. This ensures data accuracy as consumers will be able to consistently track their data and correct any mistakes, such as unjustified loan or credit denials, without engaging in cumbersome and often ineffective dispute procedures.
Argyle is the latest to join several other companies in its request for the FTC to investigate non-permissioned data collection. For additional details, see Argyle’s announcement.
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