The Nation : House OKs Video Privacy Protection Bill

The House passed legislation designed to protect the privacy of video store customers, an outgrowth of last year’s hearings on the nomination of Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court. The Video Privacy Protection Act was approved by voice vote and sent to President Reagan. The measure, which cleared the Senate last week, was written after a weekly Washington newspaper obtained and published the video rental records of Bork, whose nomination was the subject of a lengthy and bitter battle in the Senate. Under the measure, video stores would be prohibited from releasing information about any customer’s rentals or purchases of video tapes, unless they have the permission of the customer.