Clinton Calls on Congress to Boost Consumer Rights on Data Sharing

Contending that many privacy laws have been overtaken by the Information Age, President Clinton urged Congress on Tuesday to bolster the rights of consumers when banks and other financial companies seek to share or sell information about them.

Clinton said too many consumers “have fallen victim to abusive practices” and the rule changes would give them “the tools and the confidence they need to fully participate in a thriving but highly complex 21st century economy.”

The basic principle of his proposal would give Americans the right to decide whether information about them held by banks, insurance firms or securities companies is shared or sold.

The Clinton plan, which follows the outlines of legislation introduced in January by Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), has these main components:

* Requires banks and other financial institutions to tell consumers when they plan to share or sell their personal financial information, and give consumers the power to stop such a transfer.

* Restricts any sharing of medical information within a financial conglomerate.

* Requires credit card offers of low “teaser” rates to prominently disclose when those rates expire and how costly repayment can be if only minimum monthly payments are made.

The proposals were hailed by a number of consumer groups.

“The administration’s proposals, if enacted, would go a long way to help inject honest and fair dealing into a marketplace that increasingly fails to meet the needs of modest and lower-income consumers,” said the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union in a joint statement.