Bankers 1, Privacy 0
A federal judge on Tuesday struck down a California law that restricts banks from selling consumers’ private information to their affiliates, ruling that the state law is pre-empted by federal rules.
The American Bankers Association, the Financial Services Roundtable and Consumer Bankers Association had sued California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, arguing that the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act already regulated their ability to sell such information to affiliates in other lines of business.
The federal act lets banks and other financial institutions share information with affiliates about customers’ “credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living.”
(From Findlaw, “Judge Tosses Calif. Financial Privacy Law.”)