NEGATIVE CONSUMER/INTERNET SOLVENCY 411
OPT-OUT PROPOSALS ARE UNDESIRABLE
OPT OUT PROVISIONS ARE INSUFFICIENT TO PROTECT PRIVACY
Michelle Singletary The Washington Post, January 31, 1999, SECTION: FINANCIAL; Pg. H02; TITLE: Whose Information Is It, Anyway?; Consumers Have Few Rights to Privacy of Personal Data // acs-EE2001
What I don't like in the bill is a provision that says customers have to "opt out" or say "no" to the sharing or selling of information to affiliates of the financial institutions where they do business.
I object to this "opt-out" way of doing business. I shouldn't have to call anybody or write any company to tell them to mind their own business. The burden should be on them to contact me and seek my consent before disseminating personal information.
THE ELDERLY WILL BE VICTIMIZED BECAUSE OF OPT-OUT POLICIES
Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, The San Francisco Chronicle MAY 1, 2000, SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A23; OPEN FORUM TITLE: Opt-In to Financial Privacy // acs-EE2001
This is a disturbing prospect given that one category of consumer unlikely to respond to all opt-out notices, the elderly, is a prominent target of deceptive marketing.
OPTING OUT OF INFORMATION GATHERING IS AN UNREALISTIC OPTION
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC, May 16, 1999 SECTION: ARTS & IDEAS; Pg. E1 TITLE: GOODBYE, PRIVACY; IT'S DOOMED IN A WORLD AFTER FASTER, CHEAPER, SAFER STUFF // acs-EE2001
Whatever new legal remedies emerge, opting out of information-gathering is bound to become ever harder and less attractive. If most urban streets are monitored by intelligent video cameras that can identify criminals, who will want to live on a street without one?
If most people carry their entire medical history on a plastic card that the emergency services come to rely on, a refusal to carry the card could be life-threatening.
To get a foretaste of what is to come, try renting a car or booking a room at a top hotel without a credit card.
OPT OUT PROCEDURES WILL NOT REDUCE THE NUMBER OF IDENTITY THEFT CRIMES
Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, The San Francisco Chronicle MAY 1, 2000, SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A23; OPEN FORUM TITLE: Opt-In to Financial Privacy // acs-EE2001
Nor do consumers have any assurance that the opt-out procedure will not increase the already rising tide of identity theft crimes, where minimal consumer information such as a name and Social Security number are sufficient to allow crooks to impersonate the innocent consumer.