The new laws, which mostly take effect on 1st January 2001, will create an Office of Privacy Protection, which is the first of its kind in the US. It will provide information, advice and referrals to consumers to help resolve privacy disputes and concerns.
Businesses will be required to shred, erase or otherwise make unreadable any customer records containing personal information when disposing of them. Credit card companies that share customer data will have to give customers the option to opt-out of the practice. Another measure limits the information which credit agencies can report on consumers.
In Europe, data protection law provides stringent protection to the privacy of individuals. The US has long allowed industry to “self-regulate”, without having formal equivalents of the European requirements. However, a recent meeting of the US Congress, there were calls for new federal privacy protection laws.