Reference no: EM133812755

Question

Because Congress has addressed consumer privacy issues in a sector-by-sector fashion, focusing primarily on heavily regulated industries, such as telecommunications, and governmental accumulations of data, private industries have, for the most part, been allowed to self-regulate and develop its own balance between customer privacy interests, competitive equity, and economic efficiency. However, as technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, it is fast outpacing Congress's patchwork approach to privacy safeguards, leaving many private industries free to compile vast databases of highly personal data. What this has meant for financial privacy is that, while consumers enjoy a strong right of privacy in their video rental records, they enjoy a lesser right of privacy in their financial records for example. See 18 U.S.C. § 2710(b)(2)(B) (2000). The Videotape Privacy Protection Act does not allow disclosure of video rental records unless the company obtains the customer's consent (opt-in). Id. By contrast, the regulations under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act allow disclosure of information on an opt-out basis. See 15 U.S.C. § 6802(b)(1) (2000). This means that a customer must affirmatively state that he or she does not want personal information shared in order to prevent or stop its dissemination. See id. And even then, under the GLBA, there may not even be a right to opt-out if the information is being shared among affiliates. See, e.g., 15 U.S.C. § 6808(a)(8). Congress' sector by sector approach has left many gaps and loopholes for organizations to exploit its consumer's data and there is insufficient incentive for these companies to stop collecting this highly valuable information.