Online Behavior Could Influence Insurance Rates

There seems to be no end to the ways your personal data and online
behavior can be used against you. According to the Wall Street Journal,
insurance companies are considering using online behavioral and social networking data to try to weed out insurance risks.
What you read, what you buy, how much TV you watch, your credit, your
fan pages… it could all be used to predict your longevity and
insurance risk. The practice, which appears to be in the early stages,
could raise concerns with the FTC and insurance regulators, but
insurance and data mining companies say they just plan to use it to
speed up the applications of people who appear to be good risks; others
would have to go through more rigorous traditional screening.

Story and discussion at Slashdot

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