Copyright 2000 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
Chicago
Sun-Times
May 01, 2000, MONDAY, MIDWEST
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 412 words
HEADLINE:
Clinton pushes for financial privacy law
BYLINE: BY
ANNE GEARAN
DATELINE: YPSILANTI, Mich.
BODY:
American consumers unwittingly divulge
growing amounts of personal and financial
information, risking their privacy, President
Clinton said Sunday as he proposed reforms in the way banks, insurers and other
corporations share information about their customers.
"No one should
have to worry that the results of their latest physical exam could deny them a
home mortgage or a credit card," Clinton said during a commencement address at
Eastern Michigan University.
"A bank is not just a bank," in today's
fast-changing financial services industry, Clinton said. There are downsides to
the interconnected web of corporations and services that make many daily tasks
easier for many consumers, Clinton said. "In this information age we can't let
new opportunities erode old, fundamental rights," Clinton said. "We can't let
breakthroughs in technology break down the walls of privacy."
Key
elements of President Clinton's proposed financial privacy legislation include:
Banks could not gain access to a person's medical records from an
insurance affiliate unless they are given consent.
An individual's
detailed personal spending habits could not be transferred to a third party
unless permission is given.
Consumers would be given the power to decide
whether a financial services firm could share their financial data with third
parties. Legislation signed into law last year provides this same "opt out"
protection for people who don't want information sold to telemarketers and other
unaffiliated firms.
People would get information about a company's
privacy policies upfront, rather than after they've already become a customer.
The Federal Trade Commission would get authority to seek fines and work
with state officials to halt deceptive practices for those firms not subject to
federal bank, securities or insurance regulations.
The plan, which
stands little chance of passage in Congress this election year, includes
protections Clinton supported in the past and which he said were lacking in
banking reforms passed last year after more than a decade of wrangling.
The banking law, which Clinton signed in November, makes it easier for
financial firms to merge and use economies of scale to lower costs on products
such as checking accounts, insurance policies and brokerage services.
But critics, including much of the financial services industry and some
congressional Republicans, say Clinton's new proposal undermines last year's
legislation.
GRAPHIC: ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOAD-DATE: May 03, 2000 
