The Coming Privacy Law
Perspectives from the gossip industry are presented by Information Week, in “Execs Testify In Favor Of National Data-Security Law:”
In prepared testimony for a hearing by the House Committee on Financial Services, executives from Bank of America, ChoicePoint, and LexisNexis supported legislation patterned after California’s law requiring companies to notify customers about security breaches.
ChoicePoint Inc., the information broker whose disclosure of a security breach set off a furor over privacy and identity theft, favors existing laws such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, as well as a “pre-emptive” national law for notifying consumers when a breach has occurred, said Don McGuffey, senior VP for data acquisition and strategy.
Update: Of course, what the industry is saying depends on where you sit. CBS MarketWatch reports: “Industry says no need for more privacy laws.”
Meanwhile, the Center for American Progress has a long editorial on Protecting Privacy in the Digital Age, talking about how the Privacy Act of 1974 no longer really means anything, as government now simply outsources those actions which it isn’t allowed to take.