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Insurers have a lot of data about us. Where do they get it, and how do they use it?

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · · 926 words · By Fei Huang
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What to know about Insurers have a lot of data about us. Where do they get it, and how do they use it?

The article examines how insurance companies utilize personal, public, and third-party big data, including AI, to determine premiums. It discusses the legal frameworks in Australia and the US, highlighting risks such as proxy discrimination and the lack of transparency in pricing calculations.

Propaganda risk 10%
Claims checked 11
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center100%
Right0%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

How much does your insurer really know about you?

Why it matters

It could be more than just what’s on your application form for the policy.

Common ground

Insurers have long been allowed to use what they know about us to charge different prices for the same level of cover, albeit within some tight rules.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

The article examines how insurance companies utilize personal, public, and third-party big data, including AI, to determine premiums. It discusses the legal frameworks in Australia and the US, highlighting risks such as proxy discrimination and the lack of transparency in pricing calculations.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/insurers-have-a-lot-of-data-about-us-where-do-they-g…

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 11 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6
help Insufficient Evidence 2
verified Verified By Reference 1
info Single Source 1
schedule Pending 1
verified
Claim 1: “Australia’s Privacy Act regulates the buying, selling or sharing of our personal data, generally requiring our consent or another recognised basis.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia confirms the existence of the Privacy Act 1988 as an Australian law dealing with privacy and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) which govern the handling of personal information.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Privacy Act 1988 is an Australian law dealing with privacy. Section 14 of the Act stipulates a number of privacy rights known as the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). These principles apply to…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_Act_1988
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Privacy in Australian law is affected and protected in limited ways by common law in Australia and a range of federal, state and territorial laws, as well as administrative arrangements. There is no a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_in_Australian_law
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A privacy policy is a statement or legal document (in privacy law) that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses, and manages a customer or client's data, while a privacy not…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_policy
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 2: “According to a 2024 investigation by The New York Times, some of this data made its way to insurance companies.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources explicitly cite a 2024 New York Times investigation which found that driver data was shared with insurance companies, leading to premium increases for some consumers.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The New York Times (NYT) is a newspaper based in Manhattan, New York City. The New York Times covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces and reviews. One of the lo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. The New York Times Book Review has published the list weekly since October 12, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Best_Seller…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The New York Times Book Review (NYTBR) is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the m…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Book_Review
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 3: “A 2024 report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission raised concerns that even when personal information has been de-identified, it could still be re-identified in the future when combined with other information.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) raised concerns in 2024 regarding the risk of re-identifying de-identified data when combined with other sources.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — ACCC (Aluminum Conductor Composite Core) is a registered trade mark for a type of "high-temperature low-sag" (HTLS) overhead power line conductor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACCC_conductor
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is the chief competition regulator of the Government of Australia, located within the Department of the Treasury. It was established in 1995 w…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Competition_and_Con…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Valve Corporation, also known as Valve Software, is an American video game developer, publisher, hardware, and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valve_Corporation
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 4: “In the United Kingdom, a tool from data analytics firm Verisk called Resonate groups neighbourhoods using data on household composition, education, court judgements and affluence.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists entirely of irrelevant adult content links and does not mention Verisk, Resonate, or UK neighborhood data.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — XVideos is the ultimate adult video platform, providing free streaming of HD, Full HD, and high-quality porn videos across thousands of categories. Explore trending porn, exclusive adult content, new …
https://en-xvideo.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — XVideos.com is a free hosting service for porn videos. We convert your files to various formats. You can grab our 'embed code' to display any video on another website. Every video uploaded, is shown o…
https://www.xvideos.com/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — XVIDEOS Free Porn Videos The TWIN entered the room and her BROTHER-IN-LAW accidentally had sex with her, thinking she was his wife - YOU DAMN BITCH how could you FUCK my HUSBAND 16 min soydaniela - 35…
https://de-xvideos.com/
schedule
Claim 5: “a 2026 ASIC review of five motor vehicle insurance providers found none had explained in their quote and renewal documents: the key factors that affected the calculation of the premium, or why the premium had changed from the previous year.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 6: “In a settlement with the FTC earlier this year, General Motors was banned from sharing this data with consumer reporting agencies for five years, and now requires explicit consent for broader data sharing for the next 20 years.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm the terms of the FTC settlement: a 5-year ban on sharing sensitive geolocation/driver data with consumer reporting agencies and a 20-year requirement for express consent for broader data sharing.
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web search NEUTRAL — Under a proposed order settling the FTC’s allegations, General Motors LLC, General Motors Holdings LLC, and OnStar LLC, which are owned by General Motors Company, will be banned for five years from di…
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/01/…
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web search NEUTRAL — FTC Slaps GM with 5-Year Ban on Selling Driver Location Data: A Win for Consumer Privacy In a landmark decision, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has prohibited General Motors (GM) from selling…
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cybersecurity88_ftc-order-sto…
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web search NEUTRAL — Also, for the full 20-year duration of the order, GM must obtain express consent from consumers before collecting their data, using or sharing their connected vehicle data, with exceptions for emergen…
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ftc-bans-gene…
help
Claim 7: “Australia’s Privacy Act requires organisations to manage personal information in an open and transparent way.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided for this specific claim, although the Privacy Act's existence was verified in claim 1.
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Claim 8: “The Racial Discrimination Act covers race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, and immigrant status, with no exemption for these grounds.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results confirm the Racial Discrimination Act protects against discrimination based on race, colour, descent, and national/ethnic origin, and the provided evidence does not list the insurance exemptions found in the other three acts.
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web search NEUTRAL — Insurance pricing and underwriting decisions are driven by data. This is recognised by the insurance exemptions under the ADA, DDA and SDA, which, in certain circumstances, allow an insurer to discrim…
https://content.actuaries.asn.au/resources/resource-ce6yyqn6…
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web search NEUTRAL — Understand your rights and responsibilities under the Racial Discrimination Act, which protects people from unlawful discrimination based on race or ethnicity.
https://humanrights.gov.au/resource-hub/by-resource-type/pub…
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web search NEUTRAL — At the federal level, the Racial Discrimination Act outlaws discrimination because of race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin in employment.
https://sprintlaw.com.au/articles/addressing-racism-in-the-w…
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Claim 9: “In 2025, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took action against General Motors, alleging the company sold information about drivers’ behaviour (such as the amount of hard braking) and location to third parties, without adequate consent.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web sources confirm that in January 2025, the FTC took action against General Motors for selling driver behavior and location data to third parties (specifically LexisNexis and Verisk) without adequate consent.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Federal Trade Commission, et al. v. Amazon.com, Inc. is a lawsuit brought against the multinational technology company and online retailer Amazon in 2023. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), joined by…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTC_v._Amazon
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Federal Trade Commission v. Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Federal Trade Commission v. Facebook, Inc.) is an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Facebook parent com…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTC_v._Meta
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The following is a list of individuals who have served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) beginning in 1949.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_Federal…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 10: “In Australia, there are federal anti-discrimination laws covering age, disability, sex and race. However, three of these acts – those covering age, disability and sex – give insurance companies an exemption.”
CORROBORATED
Evidence from a document on AI and Discrimination confirms that insurance exemptions exist under the ADA (Age), DDA (Disability), and SDA (Sex) based on actuarial or statistical data.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Anti-discrimination laws in Australia have been enacted at both federal and state/territory levels to outlaw discrimination and harassment in a range of areas of public life. Federal law operate concu…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-discrimination_laws_in_Au…
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web search NEUTRAL — Work through Australian federal anti-discrimination laws for businesses: Understand key legislation, comply with workplace regulations, and protect against legal risk.
https://sprintlaw.com.au/articles/anti-discrimination-laws-b…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Understand federal, state and territory discrimination laws in Australia. A quick reference guide to your rights and obligations under anti-discrimination.
https://humanrights.gov.au/resource-hub/guides-for-impacted-…
help
Claim 11: “a ban on insurers using adverse genetic results starts in October”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided for this claim.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.