CFP 2004: Data mining allowing insurance companies to do high-tech redlining

Birny Birnbaum, Executive Directorfor the Center for Economic Justice in Texas, just gave an astounding presentation at CFP 2004 about how insurance companies are using data mining to do "high-tech redlining," denying coverage or charging excess rates for insurance when a consumer has too many credit cards, even if they're never in arrears, regardless of the factors that traditionally govern whether someone is a good insurance risk or not (such as a driving record). Birnbaum is putting out a call in the technology community to protect use of consumers' private information from situations where it's not relevant. If this isn't done, insurance will be available to fewer and fewer people, and the risk spread over fewer people. Moore's Law is accelerating the ability of corporations to do this level of data mining, and in the case of the insurance industry, which is exempt from antitrust laws, to do it across the entire industry.