Members of the House and the Senate are forming groups to discuss potential new legislation and policies on personal privacy - whether bank records or where you go when surfing the Internet.
Lawmakers in both parties are forming the groups. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) has announced the Senate Democratic Privacy Task Force, while Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama says a bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus has formed with Senators and House members, the Associated Press says.
This issue "touches virtually every American, often in extremely personal ways,'' says Daschle in a statement. ``Whether it is bank records or medical files or Internet activities, Americans have a right to expect that personal matters will be kept private.''
He says some of the most sensitive and private data ends up sold to the highest bidder. "That is wrong," he says, "it's dangerous and it has to stop."
Last November, Congress passed legislation allowing banks, securities firms, and insurance companies to get into each other's businesses, including clauses giving consumers the right to block finance companies from providing their personal data to outsiders. Companies can still share customer data under the same corporate roof.
Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy will head the Senate Democratic group; Shelby and Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), who opposed the overhaul legislation due to inadequate privacy provisions, will co-chair the bipartisan caucus.
