Bush mindset on privacy
George at Orwellian.Org
George at Orwellian.Org
Fri Apr 13 22:41:36 PDT 2001
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB987110910601888671.htm
April 13, 2001
Bush's Medical-Privacy Act Is Part of a Wider Strategy
[snip]
More broadly, the Bush mindset on privacy could have significant
consequences for a variety of businesses.
For instance, in a little-noticed comment Mr. Bush made to ZDNet,
an Internet news service, shortly before becoming president,
he declared: "As president, I will prohibit genetic discrimin-
ation, criminalize identity theft, and guarantee the privacy
of medical and sensitive financial records. In addition, I will
make it a criminal offense to sell a person's Social Security
number without his or her express consent."
This is bad news for companies that specialize in selling,
obtaining, or trading personal data. Congress this year is
expected to consider legislation that restricts sales of Social
Security numbers. Also, lawmakers anticipate debating a host
of Internet-related privacy matters, including new limits on
unsolicited e-mails and new rules on data collected by Web sites.
"Companies, before they use your or my information, must give
you a buy-in, must seek your information in a positive way,"
Mr. Bush told The Wall Street Journal last year.
Certainly his stand on medical-records privacy surprised and
delighted consumer and privacy advocates. "We are greatly
encouraged that we have cleared the first major hurdle," said
Janlori Goldman, director of the Health Privacy Project at
Georgetown University.
But industry officials were dismayed. Scott Serota, president
of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, called the rules
"an operational nightmare," and said that two years were too
short a period for the industry to reach compliance. The American
Hospital Association said it was "profoundly disappointed" by
the president's decision. The Federation of American Hospitals
said the rules, in their current form, were "unworkable."
[snip]
More information about the cypherpunks-legacy
mailing list