Editorial: Doing the right thing, but too late

Tuesday, May 2, 2000 | 9:54 a.m.

President Clinton on Sunday unveiled proposals that he said would restore privacy protections for Americans. Unfortunately, Clinton's resolve in this matter comes too late. After all, it was Clinton who agreed to a compromise last year that allowed for an overhaul of the financial services industry, legislation that allows banks, insurance companies and investment firms to merge -- but did nothing at all to preserve privacy rights. Now these newly affiliated companies can share your most personal information -- medical records, Social Security numbers -- without you even knowing it.

Clinton's proposed legislation would end some of these abuses, and Congress should pass a bill affording at least minimum privacy protections, but the damage was done in 1999 when Clinton signed into law the fatally designed financial services industry legislation. Now, in an election year, there is little hope that anything of note will be accomplished as both parties harden their positions in preparation for November's general election.

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