Privacy.
. . the Congress starts to act. . . and act. . . and act. . .
The Internet
is growing at an astounding pace, with approximately five million
websites currently in existence and 64 million regular Internet
users each month in the United States alone. Financial transactions
over the Internet have experienced enormous growth and will continue
to grow, as more and more companies see the Internet as a viable
way to do business and consumers enjoy the luxury of shopping from
their own living rooms. Yet, with all of the progress the Internet
and other technology can bring to our daily lives, the advancement
of such technology raises serious concerns about consumer privacy
protections. Consumers increasingly are having their privacy invaded
by criminals, businesses and even their government.
The difficulty
in balancing protections for consumer privacy rights, while not
interfering with the booming digital economy through over-regulation
of new technology has made privacy a hot-button issue for the 107th
Congress. Already, numerous bills have been introduced this year,
some of which are listed below:
H.R.
583
Privacy
Commission Act
Establishes
a bipartisan commission to study and make policy recommendations
on a wide variety of privacy issues.
Latest
Action: Referred to the House Committee on Government Reform
Sponsor:
Representative Asa Hutchinson (R-Arkansas) (Introduced 2/13/2001)
Cosponsors:
Rep. Kevin Brady
(R-Texas) Rep. Robert E. Cramer, Jr. (D-Alabama)
Rep. Kay Granger
(R-Texas) Rep. James C. Greenwwod (R-Pennsylvania)
Rep. Johnny
Isakson (R-Georgia) Rep. Frank D. Lucas (R-Oklahoma)
Rep. James P.
Moran (D-Virginia) Rep. Bob Riley (R-Alabama)
H.R.
237
Consumer
Internet Privacy Enhancement Act
Requires website
operators to post their privacy guidelines and give consumers the
ability to elect out of having their personal information used by
the operator for marketing purposes or sold, distributed, disclosed
or otherwise made available to a third party. Also, it establishes
self-regulatory guidelines that are issued by seal programs or representatives
of the marketing or online industries and are approved by the Federal
Trade Commission as containing all the requirements set forth in
subsection (b) of the bill. These baseline guidelines would preempt
stronger state laws.
Latest
Action: Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and
Consumer Protection.
Sponsor:
Representative Anna Eshoo (D-California) (Introduced 1/20/2001)
Cosponsors:
Rep.
Chris Cannon (R-Utah) Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Illinois)
Rep. Tom Lantos
(D-California) Rep. James P. McGovern (D-Massachusetts)
S.
197
Spyware
Control and Privacy Protection Act of 2001
Prohibits any
computer software from collecting information that personally identifies
the user of such software without notification and the user"s
consent. The bill exempts the prohibition in the following circumstances:
(a) to determine whether or not the user is a licensed or authorized
user of the software; (b) to provide, upon request of the user,
technical support; and (c) to allow an employer to monitor the computer
usage of employees while such employees are in the scope of employment
as defined by applicable federal, state and local laws.
- Last
Action: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
Sponsor:
Senator John Edwards (D-North Carolina) (Introduced 1/29/2001)
Cosponsor:
Senator Ernest F. Hollings (D-South Carolina)
H.R. 113
Wireless
Telephone Spam Protection Act
Seeks to amend
section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the use
of text, graphic, or image messaging systems of wireless telephone
systems to transmit unsolicited commercial messages.
Last Action:
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Sponsor:
Representative
Rush Holt (D-New Jersey) (Introduced 1/3/2001)
Cosponsors:
None
H.R.
260
Wireless
Privacy Protection Act of 2001
- Seeks to
amend section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 to require
wireless service providers to disclose how they use information
pertaining to customer location and requires written consent by
the customer before such information can be collected and used.
Last
Action: Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade
and Consumer Protection.
Sponsor:
Representative
Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-New Jersey) (Introduced 1/30/2001)
Cosponsors:
None
H.R.
91
Social
Security On-line Privacy Protection Act
Prohibits interactive
computer services from disclosing to a third party a person"s
social Security account number or related personal identifiable
information without written consent.
Last Action:
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Sponsor:
Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-New Jersey) (Introduced
1/3/2001)
Cosponsors: None
S.
30
Financial
Information Privacy Protection Act of 2001
Requires financial
institutions to obtain customer consent when sharing personal information
with affiliated companies or other third parties.
Last Action:
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing,
and Urban Affairs.
Sponsor:
Senator Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Maryland) (Introduced 1/22/2001)
Cosponsors:
Senator Christopher
Dodd (D-Connecticut) Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-Illinois)
Senator John
Edwards (D-North Carolina) Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
Senator John
F. Kerry (D-Massachusetts) Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vermont)
Senator Jack
Reed (D-Rhode Island)
S.
290
Student
Privacy Protection Act
Requires schools
to adopt policies that require parental consent before information
can be collected from students for commercial purposes.
Last Action:
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions.
Sponsor:
Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) (Introduced 2/8/2001)
Cosponsors: Senator Richard C. Shelby (R-Alabama)
Return
to Internet Index
|