It's bad enough that companies and individuals around the world have to worry about potential data leaks and identify theft when it comes to personally identifiable data. It's even worse when a company actively sells that private information. Thus, it is no big surprise that ChoicePoint has agreed to a hefty fine and a change in policy in response to their peddling the data of 145,000 customers:
It was the latest in a series of incidents for the Georgia-based company, but the amount of attention the 2005 revelation garnered spurred cries for reform from Congress and consumer watchdog groups. After the breach became public knowledge, ChoicePoint promised to clamp down on sales of consumer data.
The FTC claims that the information, which included social security numbers and credit card numbers, was sold unintentionally to identity thieves and resulted in at least 800 instances of identity theft. For their actions, ChoicePoint will be paying a $500,000 settlement to the attorneys general, in addition to the larger settlement they came to in 2006. On top of the changes they have "promised" to make, it brings ChoicePoints woes over this debacle to an end.