@hackernews@die-partei.social

powerslacker 0 minutes ago | next [–]

These behemoths are a major vertebrae in the backbone of the US economy. Without Equifax, Transunion, Experian and Dun & Bradstreet a huge portion of economic activity would come to a grinding halt. The vast majority of sales of housing, cars, computers, phones, hot tubs, etc. are all reliant on on-demand credit scoring. We have made serious strides in regulating them, but disbanding them would be a financial disaster. Regulation has actually made the problem a bit worse since it has essentially turned the credit reporting industry into an oligopoly, further centralizing consumer data collection so attackers only have to hit a single target to get almost everything.
----------------------------------------------------------
dragontamer 7 minutes ago | prev | next [–]
It's not your data. It's the Banks data about you.
Do you have private notes about people you've met? Same thing happens with banks. Banks keep notes on how much you repay loans, how many loans you have, etc. Etc.
And the fact is, this data is very reliable. Prime Mortgages are paid back reliably. Subprime mortgages are not.
--------
If you are on the other side of the trade: deciding on which MBS to buy to secure your retirement income off of, you will be relying upon these statistics to keep your money safe.
----------------------------------------------------------