The California Consumer Privacy Act is a powerful piece of legislation, which is designed to help California residents get more transparency and control over their personal data.

Recently, I came across an article about TransUnion, which is most widely known and associated as a credit reporting agency. This article from AdExchanger surprised me because in it TransUnion is proudly sharing how they have partnered with a media agency. TransUnion discloses that they are providing Horizon Media access to their identity graph, which they claim matches 99.9% of all adults in the United States. This made me wonder what a so-called credit agency is doing with my personal data and how it is being shared with third-party advertisers.

I submitted my CCPA request and it took almost 3 months to get the document I have shared below. I have redacted some of my personal information, but I learned the following about TransUnion:

• They potentially have at least some/all of my personal identifiers: driver’s license number, passport number, Social Security number, insurance policy numbers, bank account numbers, and more
• They have sensitive data of mine that may include at least some/all of the following: medical information, health insurance information, ancestry, religion, medical condition, genetic information, and more
• They potentially have so much more: geolocation data, audio data, inferences about my intelligence, etc
• They have shared, sold, and/or sold my personal data to advertising networks, commercial partners, consumer data resellers, data analytics providers, data brokers, internets service providers, social networks, marketing companies, and more.

I’m a huge fan of CCPA because of the increased level of transparency this provides. We still have a ways to go. I have no idea what data of mine is being shared with advertising networks. I have no idea why TransUnion has any of my genetic information and why it is being sold and to whom. We should have a right to know right?