Feinstein Introduces Privacy Act Of 2003
from the hoping-to-stop-identity-theft? dept
Senator Feinstein has introduced what she calls the "Privacy Act of 2003", which is designed to try to combat identity theft. The basics of the bill are that a company would need explicit "opt-in" permission before they could distribute certain very sensitive information about you - such as your social security number. Less sensitive info, like your name and address, would require an "opt-out" plan to prevent copmanies from selling your info. It sounds like there are some things in the bill that help fix older legislation dealing with how companies deal with personal info - but I doubt it would do much to actually slow down the spread of identity theft.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
