Hillary's Bill
Senator Clinton has called for a "Privacy Bill of Rights" and plans to introduce privacy legislation to support the concept.
Her speech details three basic rights that she'd like to protect:
-People have the right to know, and to correct, information which is being kept about them.- People have the right to know what is happening to their personal information when they are cooperating with a business and to make decisions about how it is used
- And in a democracy, people have the right and the obligation to hold their government and the private sector to the highest standards of care with the information they gather.
Senator Clinton's Privacy Bill of Rights will be encapsulated in the PROTECT Act, the Privacy Rights and Oversight for Electronic and Commercial Transactions Act of 2006 which supposedly will contain among other things: an increased ability for consumers to sue companies for privacy violations, the ability for consumers to freeze their credit and some protection for phone records.
Senator Clinton is reportedly running for President in the 2008 election.
You know, I could be cynical about this. Sure she's running for President. And whatever legislation she introduces probably won't be very effective. The only that will really work IMHO is some pretty major pushback on both aggressive consumer marketing companies and of course, muzzling the sleeping wolverine that is counterterrorist America. Who's going to have the guts to do that?
But, having said the above, more power to you, Senator Clinton. At least you're trying to do something. The general impotence of Congress to protect our privacy rights has been appalling. Even if her actions are politically motivated, at least her heart is in the right place.
A privacy Bill of Rights is an excellent idea, although I'm surprised that she's willing to put the words "Bill" and "Right" into the same sentence.
Posted on June 19, 2006
