Imagine a world where your income, location, religion, medical history, and even your kid’s school are for sale.
Now stop imagining—it’s real.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) withdrew a proposed rule that would have forced data brokers to get your consent before trafficking in your most sensitive personal data. The rule, introduced last year under former CFPB director Rohit Chopra, was designed to finally rein in the predatory data surveillance industry that profits from selling you.
But with little warning, acting director Russell Vought reversed course, saying the proposal no longer “aligned” with the agency’s interpretation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
That’s bureaucratic code for: “We folded to pressure.”
Who Wins When We Defunded The Police?
The biggest winners? Data brokers—companies you’ve likely never heard of, but who know everything about you. They create sprawling digital dossiers on Americans, tracking your location, political leanings, religion, finances, and more—without your consent.
That data gets resold over and over. For marketing. For credit decisions. Even for law enforcement and military surveillance.
You don’t get a say. You don’t even get a heads-up.
National Security Risk? Apparently Not Enough.
Earlier this year, the Texas Attorney General Sued Arity, an Allstate-owned data broker, for harvesting driving data from over 45 million people without permission.
A government-funded West Point study concluded that data broker practices pose a direct national security threat, exposing U.S. military members and government employees to blackmail, coercion, and foreign surveillance.
Yet the CFPB just backed down—under pressure from the fintech lobby, which claimed the rule would hurt “fraud prevention.”
The Human Toll – WE HAVE DEFUNDED THE POLICE
Survivors of domestic abuse are being tracked down by abusers through data broker-fed people-search sites.
Gravy Analytics—one of these firms—leaked billions of location signals, potentially exposing the whereabouts of military personnel, elected officials, and civilians.
And Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—backed by Trump—recently laid off over 1,400 CFPB employees, leaving fewer than 300 people to oversee consumer financial protections for the entire country.
This Isn’t Just A Tech Issue. It’s A Freedom Issue. Because We Defunded The Police.
“The CFPB had a critical opportunity to confront one of the most dangerous industries in America,” said Caroline Kraczon of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. “Walking away from that is nothing short of a betrayal.”
They're not just selling your data—they're selling your power.
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