Editorial: Optimism wanes for privacy

Monday, July 10, 2000 | 9:34 a.m.

Last year both Democrats and Republicans genuflected before the powerful financial services industry. President Clinton signed into law legislation that allowed insurers, banks and brokerage firms to merge for the first time since the Depression, yet the bill failed to require substantial privacy protections for consumers. For instance, privacy advocates worry that these newly combined companies could share sensitive information about a customer, such as Social Security numbers or even medical records, without the customer ever knowing about it.

Just before Congress' July 4 recess, the House Banking Committee tried to make amends for last year's failure, approving legislation which mandates that financial companies get a customer's consent before sharing his medical records with a newly affiliated company or other outside firms, such as telemarketers. In addition, a bank couldn't use a medical record from an affiliated insurance company to reject a customer's loan or credit card application. The vote was 26-14 to approve the bill but, as the Associated Press reported, the margin of passage was misleading. All 22 Democrats present voted for the legislation, while 14 of the 18 Republicans at the meeting voted against the bill. The legislation certainly will face tough sledding ahead if it makes it to the full House for a vote.

Still, while pessimism definitely is warranted on this issue, don't forget that the GOP-controlled House has done better than the Republican-led Senate when it comes to medical issues involving consumers. After all, a great many House Republicans rebuffed their leadership and joined with Democrats this year to pass a patient's bill of rights, which unfortunately has been rejected so far by the Senate. It also should be noted that, with but a few exceptions, many of the same Democratic and Republican lawmakers -- and let's not forget President Clinton, too -- who now champion privacy rights, last year didn't give a whit about privacy as they passed the financial services industry-backed modernization legislation. Those same individuals who now have suddenly discovered the privacy issue -- after public opinion polls show this to be a hot-button issue -- only have themselves to blame if privacy legislation doesn't become law this year since the best shot at passage was last year.