[Page: H1288]
---

   (Mr. HUTCHINSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

   Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. Speaker, each day in the newspaper we read or hear of the news of yet another account of how Americans have a growing concern about invasions of their own personal privacy.

   Today in the USA Today, the headline reads, ``Filesafe, health records may not be confidential.'' It says, ``Most patients assume that what they tell their doctor is confidential, but it might not be. Blame the loss of privacy on the Internet or on the growing use of computer records.''

   Mr. Speaker, more and more Americans are voicing their concern about the loss of their own personal privacy. They are alarmed at the accessibility of medical records, their financial information, how it is being used. They want to know how they can get on the Internet without strangers downloading personal information about them. In today's information society, all of these issues are hopelessly interwoven.

   This Congress should adopt privacy legislation. The best approach is the bipartisan Privacy Protection Commission, which I introduced along with the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. MORAN). A Supreme Court Justice said the most cherished right of civilized man is the right to be left alone. In this Congress, we need to address that, and I urge my colleagues to consider that legislation.

END