ChoicePoint

ChoicePoint
Name	ChoicePoint
Type	Public
Fate	Acquired
Successor	LexisNexis Risk Solutions
Founded	1997
Defunct	2008
Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia
Key people	Amit Judgaonkar, Jerry Speyer, Robert Carrigan
Industry	Information services

ChoicePoint

ChoicePoint was an American information services company that aggregated public records, commercial data, and proprietary databases to supply identity verification, risk management, and investigative tools for customers in sectors such as insurance, Banking, retail, healthcare, law enforcement, and federal agencies. Founded during the late 1990s technology expansion, ChoicePoint built large-scale datasets and analytic products that intersected with litigation, regulation, and privacy debates involving entities like Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice, United States Congress, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and civil liberties organizations including American Civil Liberties Union.

History

ChoicePoint originated from a corporate lineage tied to Bentley Systems, Reed Elsevier, and Hewlett-Packard data ventures, formally established in 1997 with roots in the consolidation of auctioned databases and public-record aggregators. During the 1990s and early 2000s ChoicePoint expanded through acquisitions of firms such as Seisint, TLO, and specialized data brokers, aligning with trends set by companies like Acxiom, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Corporate milestones included listing on the New York Stock Exchange and engagement with policy debates at hearings convened by the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives on commercial data uses. The firm's trajectory culminated in a 2008 acquisition by Reed Elsevier subsidiary LexisNexis forming a division known as LexisNexis Risk Solutions, amid contemporaneous scrutiny from regulators including the Federal Trade Commission and court actions involving plaintiffs represented by firms like Covington & Burling and Kirkland & Ellis.

Services and Products

ChoicePoint's portfolio included identity verification platforms, fraud-detection systems, address and property databases, motor vehicle records, criminal-history searches, and analytical risk scores used by clients such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Walmart, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, State Farm, and Verizon Communications. Products integrated data from National Crime Information Center, Department of Motor Vehicles, Social Security Administration, and commercial partners to provide business-process services similar to those offered by Dun & Bradstreet, Moody's Analytics, and Thomson Reuters. ChoicePoint marketed solutions for pre-employment screening used by large employers including FedEx, UPS, and American Airlines, and provided investigative tools for FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and private investigators similar to services from PALANTIR Technologies and Clearview AI.

Data Sources and Privacy Practices

ChoicePoint combined public-record repositories such as United States Census Bureau extracts, county clerk filings, property-tax rolls, and court dockets with commercial credit files from Experian-style vendors and subscriber-contributed reports. The firm maintained data integration and matching processes akin to identity-resolution methods studied by National Institute of Standards and Technology and academic research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. Privacy practices were described in contracts and privacy notices referencing compliance frameworks like the Fair Credit Reporting Act and interactions with the Privacy Act of 1974 when handling federal records. Data-sharing agreements and reseller networks involved entities such as data brokers and compliance specialists from Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers, while audits and governance were influenced by standards from American National Standards Institute and reports to regulators including the Federal Trade Commission.

Controversies and Legal Issues

ChoicePoint became central to high-profile controversies after a 2005 security breach in which identity thieves obtained consumer records sold through the company, prompting investigations by the Federal Trade Commission, hearings before United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and lawsuits filed in state and federal courts led by attorneys general from states like California and Texas. Cases implicated statutes such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act and state consumer-protection laws; plaintiffs were represented by firms including Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and Morgan & Morgan. The breach led to settlements, multi-state enforcement actions, and scrutiny from privacy advocates including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Privacy International. Litigation touched on disclosure duties exemplified in precedents from cases in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and debates over standing similar to rulings involving Spokeo, Inc..

Corporate Structure and Mergers

ChoicePoint's corporate governance included a board featuring executives with ties to firms such as General Electric, Emory University, and The Coca-Cola Company, and shareholding by institutional investors like Berkshire Hathaway-aligned funds and Vanguard Group. The 2008 acquisition by Reed Elsevier's LexisNexis consolidated ChoicePoint's assets into RELX Group's risk and data services lineup alongside Risk & Compliance units from Thomson Reuters-era deals. Post-merger integration involved restructuring akin to previous consolidations among Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian, and required regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and merger notifications to Federal Trade Commission antitrust review processes.

Criticism and Reforms

Following public backlash and regulatory settlements, ChoicePoint and successor units faced calls for reform from members of United States Congress and advocacy groups including the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Center for Democracy & Technology. Reform proposals mirrored policy recommendations from Office of Management and Budget circulars and legislative initiatives debated with stakeholders such as American Bankers Association and National Association of Attorneys General to strengthen data-broker transparency, consumer access rights, and breach-notification requirements. Industry responses included enhanced identity-verification protocols, third-party audits by firms like KPMG and Ernst & Young, and adoption of best practices referenced in standards from International Organization for Standardization and guidance from National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Category:Data brokers Category:Companies established in 1997 Category:Companies disestablished in 2008