Washington, D.C. - May 1, 2000 - Congressman Jerry Kleczka voiced his support today for new privacy initiatives introduced by the Clinton Administration.  The privacy proposals were included in a commencement speech the President gave yesterday at Eastern Michigan University.

"I am very pleased that the President has decided to press for legislative action on this extremely important issue," Kleczka said.  "With Administration support, we will hopefully get some action to protect consumer privacy."

Kleczka has been a leader on privacy protection issues, having introduced H.R. 1450, the Personal Information Privacy Act, on April 15, 1999.  This legislation would return some control over the use of personal information to consumers by preventing credit bureaus from giving out Social Security numbers.  It also prohibits the sale of any information that includes one's Social Security number without written consent from the affected individual.

The President's proposals include safeguards similar to the Kleczka legislation which require consumers to give consent before their personal information is released or sold by their financial service companies.

"We as consumers have the right to know not only when and how our personal information is being used," Kleczka said, "but we have the right to say that we don't want that information given out to others.  My legislation was designed to curtail the continuing rampant invasion of privacy, and I am heartened to see that the Administration has recognized how important it is to address this growing problem by giving consumers the right to say no to the sale of private information."

The Kleczka bill would go further, prohibiting any state department of motor vehicles from selling drivers' photographs and drivers lists containing Social Security numbers.  It also provided for civil and criminal penalties for privacy violations.  Kleczka first introduced privacy legislation in the 105th Congress.