Updates
EPIC Executive Director Testifies Before the House Financial Services Committee
December 4, 2024
EPIC Executive Director Alan Butler testified today before the House Financial Services Committee in a hearing entitled: “Innovation Revolution: How Technology is Shaping the Future of Finance.”
Butler told the committee:
“Far too often, the term “innovation” has been used to obscure practices that are, at bottom, extractive and exploitative and do not serve the interests of the individuals who use these services. We can and should aspire for better. Technology has the power to provide people with faster and more secure access to the world around them, to create new opportunities for entrepreneurship and financial security, and to increase trust in the digital marketplace. Those positive innovations require adequate guardrails and robust oversight.”
EPIC’s testimony focused on four key concepts that should be central to the conversation about innovation and the vision of the future for financial services: trust, security, privacy, and fairness. In particular Butler argued that: (1) a healthy marketplace requires trust built on a clear set of rules and institutional guardrails; (2) strengthening data security should be a top priority of businesses and policymakers working to shape the future of finance; (3) the financial services of the future should not be built on the privacy models of the past, and clear rules limiting data collection and use are needed; and (4) policymakers and regulators must also continue to shut down unfair business practices that take advantage of the power and information imbalances inherent in the financial ecosystem.
EPIC has long advocated for strong guardrails to protect consumers’ sensitive financial data. For example, EPIC filed comments on the CFPB’s proposed Section 1033 rules, urging the CFPB to adopt strong rules that protect privacy and empower consumers. The CFPB recently finalized the Personal Financial Data Rights rule, and EPIC applauds the Bureau for finalizing rules that protect consumer rights and privacy in the financial system. EPIC also filed comments in support of the CFPB’s proposals to prohibit the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports and comments on the CFPB’s proposed revisions to Fair Credit Reporting Act rules, which would clarify that data brokers must comply with FCRA.
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