Slashdot Mirror
32 Senators Want To Know If US Regulators Halted Equifax Probe (engadget.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: Earlier this week, a Reuters report suggested that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) had halted its investigation into last year's massive Equifax data breach. Reuters sources said that even basic steps expected in such a probe hadn't been taken and efforts had stalled since Mick Mulvaney took over as head of the CFPB late last year. Now, 31 Democratic senators and one Independent have written a letter to Mulvaney asking if that is indeed the case and if so, why.
In their letter, the senators expressed their concern over these reports and reiterated the duty the CFPB has to not only investigate the breach but to bring action against Equifax if deemed necessary. "Consumer reporting agencies and the data they collect play a central role in consumers' access to credit and the fair and competitive pricing of that credit," they wrote. "Therefore, the CFPB has a duty to supervise consumer reporting agencies, investigate how this breach has or will harm consumers and bring enforcement actions as necessary."
In their letter, the senators expressed their concern over these reports and reiterated the duty the CFPB has to not only investigate the breach but to bring action against Equifax if deemed necessary. "Consumer reporting agencies and the data they collect play a central role in consumers' access to credit and the fair and competitive pricing of that credit," they wrote. "Therefore, the CFPB has a duty to supervise consumer reporting agencies, investigate how this breach has or will harm consumers and bring enforcement actions as necessary."
Seriously. Why are these Senators bothering? It's not like he will give them a clear response. Any response, if he even provides one, will only serve to make up some bullshit reason why it was "unnecessary" rather than the real reason, which is that these guys believe fundamentally there's nothing wrong with cheating people and fucking people over.
So why waste time and write the letters? To just look like they are doing something useful?
I've seen more commercials for Equifax consumer products in the last six months than I have in the last six years. Enron wasn't pitching their retirement accounts while they were under investigation and Martha Stewart wasn't taking out Super Bowl ads to pitch her new holiday pots-and-pans collection while she was under investigation.
A real investigation of Equifax would keep Equifax's name in the news in a bad way, and Equifax wouldn't be pitching their credit monitoring apps on primetime TV if their name was associated with being under investigation.
So yes, it's abundantly clear that Equifax isn't getting the probing they deserve.