FC: Judge imposes strict limits on credit reporting firms

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Tue May 08 2001 - 08:41:35 PDT

  • Next message: Declan McCullagh: "FC: More on park police surveillance in Philly, by Bernie S"

    ---
    See also:
    http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,24284,00.html
    ---
    
    "Judge Upholds Tough New Restrictions on Sales of Certain Personal-Credit
    Data"
    Wall Street Journal (05/08/01) P. A28; Simpson, Glenn R.
    
    Effective July 1, consumer data firms must get permission from
    consumers before selling their credit data, including names,
    addresses, phone numbers, and Social Security numbers, according
    to an April 30 ruling from Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle.  The
    judge's ruling clarifies a vague passage in the 1999
    Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that places restrictions on the trade of
    "personally identifiable financial information."  Huvelle's
    ruling affirms the government's position that the header and all
    other parts of a credit report fall under the scope of this
    passage.  The credit industry had been arguing that names,
    addresses, and other personal data did not qualify as "personally
    identifiable financial information."  Indeed, Huvelle said that
    the passage was ambiguous but ruled nonetheless that lawmakers
    had crafted the bill to provide "especially broad privacy
    protections."  Direct Marketing Association spokesman Lou Mastria
    warned that the ruling would hit marketers hard in the pocket
    book.
    
    
    
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
    You may redistribute this message freely if it remains intact.
    To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
    This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue May 08 2001 - 09:19:10 PDT