May 4, 2000

The privacy genie escaped from the bottle when the Republican Congress decided last year that it cared more about helping banks and other financial institutions profit from the unauthorized use of sensitive customer health and spending data than about protecting your privacy.

The legislation we are introducing today corrects this injustice. It puts the consumer first. It says that financial institutions can no longer operate in a "privacy free zone", collecting and marketing their customers’ sensitive health and spending data, for profit.

The simple fact is that these matters are the consumer’s own private business. No bank, no insurance company, and no securities firm has any right to receive or share anyone’s medical or health information without first getting that person’s express consent. Neither do these institutions have any right to receive or share unauthorized information about a consumer’s choice of books or movies, or any other purchase. It’s simply no one else’s business.

This legislation lets consumers control their own personal business. A consumer would have to give his or her consent before health or spending information could be given to bankers who might use it to deny a loan or credit card. Consumers could also prevent this sensitive information from being given to insurance underwriters who might use it to deny needed coverage. This information could also be kept from employers who may use it to terminate or to deny employment. Finally, the legislation also gives consumers the right to correct inaccuracies in data that financial institutions collect.