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Online Behavior Could Influence Insurance Rates

Posted by Soulskill on from the brain-tumor-insurance-not-offered-to-youtube-commenters dept.

storagedude writes "There seems to be no end to the ways your personal data and online behavior can be used against you. According to the Wall Street Journal, insurance companies are considering using online behavioral and social networking data to try to weed out insurance risks. What you read, what you buy, how much TV you watch, your credit, your fan pages... it could all be used to predict your longevity and insurance risk. The practice, which appears to be in the early stages, could raise concerns with the FTC and insurance regulators, but insurance and data mining companies say they just plan to use it to speed up the applications of people who appear to be good risks; others would have to go through more rigorous traditional screening."

2 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Predicting the future... by Manip · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Here is what will happen:
    1) People will "game" the system to get cheaper quotes (e.g. fake browser history, fake cookies, etc).
    2) Some insurance company which doesn't really understand technology will either sue a client, or try and withhold a payout
    3) A 70 year old judge will agree that fake browser history (or "privacy" as I like to call it) is fraud
    4) A law will be passed making it illegal to tamper with or destroy your browsing history, or to attempt to avoid tracking while online

  2. It smells in here. by AnonymousClown · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Deloitte and the life insurers stress the databases wouldn't be used to make final decisions about applicants.

    Bullshit.

    She also says that, while Acxiom does store personally identifiable information, it doesn't store or merge anonymous online-tracking data, such as Web-browsing records.

    Bullshit.

    Units of News Corp., including The Wall Street Journal, supply information to marketing-database firms and buy information from them. "We have strict precautions around confidentiality," a spokeswoman said.

    Bullshit.

    The insurer says pilot projects with marketing data are continuing in its effort to improve clients' buying experience.

    Bullshit.

    All these quotes were made by PR and corporate stooges. Does anyone honestly think they would tell the real story?

    --
    RIP America

    July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001