Governors hear privacy debate

From...

July 13, 2000
Web posted at: 11:38 a.m. EDT (1538 GMT)

by Jill Rosen

(IDG) -- Governors heard both sides of the thorny privacy issue Monday at the National Governors' Association's annual meeting in State College, Pa.

Because some governors soon could be considering privacy policies for state government electronic transactions, NGA's Committee on Economic Development and Commerce invited a corporate attorney and a privacy advocate to share their views. Their views sounded similar at first, but it didn't take long for the gap to show.

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The corporate attorney, Kate Sullivan, general counsel and chief of staff for Citigroup, spoke about the extensive actions that her company has taken to comply with Gramm-Leach-Bliley Title V. That law requires financial services companies to disclose what personal information they collect about customers and who can see that information.

Sullivan said Citigroup notified all customers in writing and offered everyone the opportunity to "opt out" of allowing their information to be used by third parties or for marketing purposes.

"Having a policy if you hide it is like not having a policy at all," she told the governors.

Jason Catlett, founder of a privacy advocacy firm called Junkbusters Corp., urged the policy-makers to realize that lobbyists will be pushing hard for states to be lax on privacy requirements.

"If you insist that the privacy rights of your citizens be protected, you'll surely prevail," Catlett said. "If you stand up for privacy, the entire nation will owe you their gratitude."

Although both speakers seemed to endorse privacy, Sullivan said her company would refrain from using customers' information only if they specifically requested the information not be used. Catlett said companies should ask people's permission in the first place.

South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges, the committee chairman, characterized the dilemma by saying people "don't want their lives turned into the "Truman Show,'" referring to the movie in which a man's entire life was broadcast as a TV show.

Connecticut Gov. John Rowland called privacy concerns "the most serious to the Internet's vitality." He acknowledged that state leaders face tough decisions about privacy that include considering legislation's impact on the cost of Internet use, determining who should do the regulating and deciding whose job it is to protect people's information.

"As states evolve from paper dinosaurs into digital democracies, people need faith that their government is protecting their digital information," Rowland said.

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New Net privacy protocol closer to going online
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Security, the way it should be
(Computerworld)
Federal security policies fall short
(FCW)
Study: Online privacy fears grow as fast as Net
(IDG.net)
Blanket insecurity?
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ABA cyberspace group calls for global Internet commission
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Senator ponders electronic government
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Citigroup homepage
Junkbusters homepage

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