Archive

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President

VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES NEW STEPS TOWARD
AN ELECTRONIC BILL OF RIGHTS

Washington, DC -- Vice President Gore announced new steps toward an Electronic Bill of Rights, an effort to protect one of the oldest and most basic American values -- privacy -- with the rise of new technology.

"We need an electronic bill of rights for this electronic age," Vice President Gore said in an event in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. "You should have the right to choose whether your personal information is disclosed; you should have the right to know how, when, and how much of that information is being used; and you should have the right to see it yourself, to know if it's accurate."

Following a major address at New York University this May, the Vice President renewed the call for an Electronic Bill of Rights by asking everyone to do their part to protect individual privacy -- relying on private sector leadership where possible, on legislation when necessary, on responsible government handling of personal information, and on an informed public.

The Vice President announced new action in four key areas:

• Protecting sensitive personal information. Taking new executive action and calling for tough new legislation to protect personal information such as medical and financial records -- and ensuring that existing privacy laws are strong enough to protect privacy as technology grows and changes;

• Stopping identity theft. Calling for strong new penalties for so-called "identity theft";

• Protecting children's privacy on-line. Calling for strong new measures to protect children's privacy on-line -- by ensuring that data is not collected from children without their parents' consent; and

• Urging voluntary private sector action to protect privacy. Challenging the private sector to continue to take effective voluntary steps to protect privacy on-line.

PROTECTING AMERICANS' PRIVACY IN THE INFORMATION AGE: AN ELECTRONIC BILL OF RIGHTS

In a major address at New York University this May, Vice President Gore called for an Electronic Bill of Rights to protect one of the oldest and most basic American values -- privacy -- with the rise of new technology. Today at the White House, the Vice President will announce a series of measures that represent the latest step toward making the core principles of the Electronic Bill of Rights a reality. His plan calls on everyone to do their part to protect individual privacy -- relying on private sector leadership where possible, legislation when necessary, responsible government handling of personal information, and an informed public.

The Vice President will announce new action in four key areas:

• Protecting sensitive personal information. Taking new executive action and calling for tough new legislation to protect personal information such as medical and financial records -- and ensuring that existing privacy statutes are strong enough to protect privacy as technology grows and changes;

• Stopping identity theft. Calling for strong new penalties for so-called "identity theft";

• Protecting children's privacy on-line. Calling for strong new measures to protect children's privacy on-line -- by ensuring that data is not collected from children without their parents' consent;

• Urging voluntary private sector action to protect privacy. Challenging the private sector to continue to take effective voluntary steps to protect privacy on-line.

Sensitive Personal Information

In 1996 Congress directed HHS to develop standards for unique health identifiers under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. However, because the availability of these identifiers without strong privacy protections in place raises serious privacy concerns, the Administration is committed to not implementing the identifiers until such protections are in place. It is also important to note that the privacy provisions passed in the House Republicans patients' rights legislation last week certainly do not pass this test, as this provision permits far too much disclosure of patient information without consent.

Financial records: The Administration will direct Treasury and the banking regulators to strengthen the enforcement of the Fair Credit Reporting Act with respect to the sharing of information between banks and their affiliates and "opt-out" notices for consumers. The Administration will also ask that Congress give bank regulators the authority to examine financial institutions for compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Profiling: The Administration will work with the Federal Trade Commission to encourage companies that build dossiers about individuals by aggregating information from a variety of database sources to implement effective self-regulatory mechanisms. If industry attempts at self-regulation are not successful, the Administration will consider other means to ensure adequate privacy protection.

Government information: The Administration will launch a "privacy dialogue" with state and local governments. This dialogue will include considering the appropriate balance between the privacy of personal information collected by governments, the right of individuals to access public records, and First Amendment values. For example, the digitization and widespread availability of public records has raised serious privacy concerns.

Identity Theft

Theft of personal financial information: The Administration will work with Congress to pass legislation sponsored by Representatives Leach and LaFalce that will make it a federal crime to obtain confidential customer information from a bank by fraudulent means. In some cases, people are obtaining information illegally and then using the information for a legal purpose -- e.g., pretending to be a customer in order to trick confidential information out of a bank, and then selling that information to a private investigator or some other third party.

Children's Privacy

Children's privacy: The Administration will seek legislation that would specify a set of fair information principles applicable to the collection of data from children, such as a prohibition on the collection of data from children under 13 without prior parental consent. The Federal Trade Commission would have the authority to issue rules to enforce these standards. Legislation is needed because children under 13 may not understand the consequences of giving out personally identifiable information.

Calling for Private Sector Efforts

Privacy online: The Administration will continue to press for industry self regulation with enforcement mechanisms. The private sector continues to respond to the Administration's call for industry self regulation. For example, over 50 major companies and associations engaged in electronic commerce have recently created the "Online Privacy Alliance." The Administration will monitor the progress of online industry self regulation to ensure that the commitments made by companies are implemented, that the enforcement mechanisms are effective, and that the numbers of companies and organizations participating in these efforts expands so that the efforts become sufficiently broad based.

Increasing Public Awareness

A Coordinated Approach