[wordup] Judge imposes strict limits on credit reporting firms

[Adam Shand]

on a total tangent i just thought this was funny.  you need to know what a
"flame war" is though for it to be funny. :)

From: William Thompson <william.thompson at jda.com>
URL:  http://www.winternet.com/~mikelr/flame1.html

and on with the regular fare ... lordy me ... something good happened.

From: Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com>
Via:  politech at politechbot.com
URL:  http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,24284,00.html

"Judge Upholds Tough New Restrictions on Sales of Certain Personal-Credit Data"
Wall Street Journal (05/08/01) P. A28; Simpson, Glenn R.

Effective July 1, consumer data firms must get permission from consumers
before selling their credit data, including names, addresses, phone
numbers, and Social Security numbers, according to an April 30 ruling from
Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle.  The judge's ruling clarifies a vague passage
in the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that places restrictions on the trade
of "personally identifiable financial information."  Huvelle's ruling
affirms the government's position that the header and all other parts of a
credit report fall under the scope of this passage.  The credit industry
had been arguing that names, addresses, and other personal data did not
qualify as "personally identifiable financial information."  Indeed,
Huvelle said that the passage was ambiguous but ruled nonetheless that
lawmakers had crafted the bill to provide "especially broad privacy
protections."  Direct Marketing Association spokesman Lou Mastria warned
that the ruling would hit marketers hard in the pocket book.

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