{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://loebsack.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=395074", "Loebsack Demands Answers from Equifax on Data Breach", "2017-09-13", "2017", "2017-09", "Democrat", "House", "IA", "Dave Loebsack", "L000565", "loebsack.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Congressman Dave Loebsack, along with his Democratic colleagues from the Energy and Commerce Committee, demanded answers from Equifax after the company announced a massive data breach has compromised the personal information of more than 143 million Americans. In a letter sent to Richard Smith, the Chairman and CEO of Equifax, the members laid out a series of questions to gain additional information about who was affected, how Equifax plans to make impacted customers whole and what the company is doing to ensure additional breaches do not occur. The letter also asks why Equifax took more than a month to notify consumers of the unauthorized access to their personal information. \r\n \r\n\u00a0\r\n \r\nInformation is available on the Iowa Attorney General\u2019s website for Iowans whose data may have been compromised. \r\n \r\n\u00a0\r\n \r\n\u201cWe are writing with serious concerns about the immense scale of this data breach, and we have a number of questions about whether Equifax took appropriate steps to safeguard the personal information of consumers,\u201d the Energy and Commerce Committee members wrote in their letter. \u201cYour company profits from collecting highly sensitive personal information from American consumers- it should take seriously its responsibility to keep data safe and to inform consumers when its protections fail.\u201d\r\n \r\n\u00a0\r\n \r\nThe letter requests answers to detailed questions, including:\r\n \r\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Why did it take Equifax more than a month to announce this massive data breach?\u00a0 \r\n \r\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How did Equifax determine that offering credit monitoring services for one year \u2013 provided by Equifax itself \u2013 would be adequate to make consumers whole?\u00a0 \r\n \r\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How much money per year would an affected customer pay Equifax to extend the \u201ccomplimentary\u201d credit monitoring services beyond one year?\u00a0 How much money would Equifax make after one year on credit monitoring services that would be unnecessary but for Equifax\u2019s failure to safeguard consumer data?\r\n \r\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What measures is Equifax implementing after the event to improve the protection of consumer information residing on its network?\r\n \r\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What measures is the company taking to investigate the sale of stock in the aftermath of the company\u2019s discovery of the data breach, including whether these or other executives sought to delay the announcement of the data breach?\r\n \r\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What measures, other than offering credit monitoring services and identity theft protection, is Equifax taking to mitigate harm to consumers?", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://loebsack.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=395074"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8908251766115427, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}