August 9, 2006 - MARKEY RENEWS CALL TO ELIMINATE WAREHOUSING OF DATA SUCH AS WEB SITE VISITS ERRONEOUSLY MADE PUBLIC BY AOL
Washington, DC -- In response to the latest privacy breach of data collected by AOL, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), the top Democrat on the Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, renewed his call for Congress to pass legislation intended to prevent the perpetual amassing of private information by Internet website owners. Markey is the author of HR 4731, The Eliminate Warehousing of Consumer Internet Data Act of 2006 – designed to strengthen consumers’ Internet privacy and prevent companies from storing personal information for indefinite periods of time.
December 7, 2005- IRS Issues Proposed Regulations to Safeguard Taxpayer Information
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Internal Revenue Service today issued proposed guidance on the disclosure or use of tax return information by tax return preparers. A key principle underlying the proposed guidance is that tax return preparers may not disclose or use tax return information for purposes other than tax return preparation without the knowing, informed, and voluntary consent of the taxpayer.
November 3, 2005- Protections for Consumers Personal Data Slashed by Majority on House Subcommittee
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Republican members of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection approved a bill that would leave the personal data of millions of Americans vulnerable to theft and manipulation. In a 13-8 straight party line vote, Republicans approved H.R. 4127, the Data Accountability and Trust Act (DATA), which overrides strong state privacy laws and permits information brokers to determine when a security breach has occurred. That means the same company that leaked consumers’ personal information is empowered by the Republican bill to determine whether they should notify the victims of the leak. Rep. Markey, a critic of H.R. 4127 and Co-Chairman of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, offered several amendments to protect the personal data of Americans and emphasized the importance of protecting personal data at today’s mark-up of the legislation.
September 16, 2005- Choicepoint Notifies 9,000 Consumers of Personal Data Breach
WASHINGTON, D.C. – ChoicePoint, a national data brokerage company, notified 9,000 consumers’ today that they will join the ranks of 50 million Americans who have had their personal information misused or stolen this year. The notification Choicepoint sent to consumers impacted by the breach was made possible by a new policy that Choicepoint has adopted in the wake of several data base breaches at large companies. Congress is currently considering adopting weak data privacy legislation with a much narrower notification requirement that only would be triggered if it’s likely the information would be used to steal a consumer’s identity.
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