Senator Hillary Clinton to Introduce Comprehensive Consumer Privacy Legislation
According to National Journal's TechDaily (see excerpt below), Senator Hillary Clinton plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit the exchange of customer information without express intent from that consumer. While not targeted at RFID technology specificially, the degree to which RFID is used by financial services companies like Visa or Mastercard, or by retailers like Walmart and Home Depot -- RFID IT providers, data management software, and end users will all likely be covered by legislation like this. As the story in National Journal states, the yet-to-be introduced legislation will create a right to sue for monetary damages for "mishandled information". That definition could be key. As earlier stated in this blog, House Energy and Commerce Chaiman Barton will be introducing his own comprehensive privacy legislation very, very soon.
For those who believe that this is an opportunity to pre-empt state laws, there is no discussion in the article of any intention for this federal law to be anything other than a base-line federal privacy law. This effort will likely lead to more, not less, legislative activity on the privacy front by states.
Sen. Clinton Outlines Plan For Privacy Bill Of Rights
by Sarah Lai Stirland
...The legislation would grant consumers the right to sue entities for monetary damages when their information is mishandled -- an idea that congressional Republicans repeatedly have rejected.
"Individuals have a right to privacy -- unless there is a compelling reason to breach it," Clinton said. "In modern society, without safeguards, we are all open books to whoever has access to the data we create everyday, from credit cards, to store cameras to phone company records. The challenge we face is to be able to take advantage of all the advantages of technology without losing something precious."
Under Clinton's proposal, companies could not share certain transactional information unless consumers specifically approve. The law also would enable consumers to restrict access to their credit histories held by the major credit-reporting agencies....