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Abstract

This chapter reviews the development of consumer credit surveillance in the United
States from the nineteenth century, as the original problem of information asymmetry in
consumer lending gave rise to consumer data registries, a process led by merchants, not
by financial institutions. Regulations in the 1970s addressing discrimination and data privacy
limited consumer credit surveillance, but lately two developments reversed this
trend. Aided by banking deregulation and advances in information technology, the use of
credit scores expanded beyond lending, while the kind of data used to calculate scores
has also widened, turning the credit score into a general measure of character. This results
in a pervasive new system of consumer surveillance and control that turns the original
information asymmetry upside down, favoring lenders and other corporate actors, including
the state, at the expense of consumers. The European Union is trying to limit this
system while a full version is currently piloted in China.