The ACCC this week released an issues paper inviting submissions to assist with its 8th interim report of the Digital Platform Services Inquiry, which will consider potential competition and consumer issues in the supply of data broker services in Australia.
The Issues Paper notes that, in this inquiry, it proposes to focus on third-party data brokers. That is, data brokers that collect information about people from various third-party sources. It specifically identifies CoreLogic, Equifax, Experian Illion, LiveRamp, Nielsen, PropTrack, Oracle and Quantium as companies whose products and services will be considered.
First-party brokers, that collect data on their own customers and use that within their own business, or sell or share that data with others, will not be a focus, though it has invited feedback on this proposed approach.
The issues the ACCC has indicated it will examine include:
- sources of data broker information
- the types of information collected
- methods of collection, storage, processing and analysing information
- types of data broker products and services supplied and how these are used
- competitive dynamics in the data broker industry in Australia
- potential consumer or small business harms that may arise.
The paper notes that it will not examine the operation of Australian privacy laws, which is outside of the scope of the inquiry.
The ACCC’s paper acknowledges that data brokers clearly play a central role in enabling the exchange of information between businesses, which gives rise to business and consumer benefits. However, it raises concerns in relation to transparency and awareness of how data brokers operate in Australia and that consumers may be less likely to:
- be aware of these practices
- have explicitly consented to the collection and use of their data, and
- be able to challenge or opt out of the collection and use of their data
IAB Australia will be taking a closer look at the ACCC’s paper in coming weeks and considering the industry’s position. Submissions to the issues paper are due by 7 August 2023 and the ACCC will provide its Report to the Treasurer by 31 March 2024.