A Major Data-Broker Opens The Book To Consumers

A data-broker kingpin will let consumers see their own data — which typically includes everything from how many children they have and the size of their mortgage to what they bought yesterday — and fix the data, or even opt out entirely and get themselves off the data base. Acxiom CEO Scott E. Howe wants to stay ahead of the regulators, and he’s probably going to get a lot of consumer good will in the process. “For 40 years,” he says, referring to the now burgeoning data-broker industry, “we talked about our three constituencies: our shareholders, our associates and our clients. But there’s a fourth constituency: consumers.”