Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 20:32:19 -0400 From: "The American Civil Liberties Union" To: "The American Civil Liberties Union" Subject: support HR 2622, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act Thank you for using The American Civil Liberties Union Mail System Message sent to the following recipients: Senator Kennedy Senator Kerry Message text follows: Matthew Belmonte [address] September 30, 2003 [recipient address was inserted here] [recipient name was inserted here], I urge you to support amendments to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (H.R. 2622) that would protect my financial privacy. I should be able to tell companies that I do not want my information shared with other companies. Current federal law limits the amount of information that I can prevent from being disclosed and H.R. 2622 does not address this problem. The current version of H.R. 2622 would set a permanent, low national standard for privacy protection. I therefore support an amendment being offered by California's Senators that would ensure that consumers have the option to protect more of their financial information. Under the current version of H.R. 2622, personal information -- such as account balances, details of credit or debit card charges and all the personal details provided on loan or insurance applications -- will continue to be widely available, sold and traded by a range of different companies. This is wrong and must be stopped. Once again, I urge you to support the California Senators' amendment to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (H.R. 2622) that would protect individuals' financial privacy. In enacting such protections, the United States would be taking an important step towards the strong privacy safeguards embodied in the European Union's data protection standards. The United States should be a leader, not a follower, in setting such standards for individual privacy. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this matter. Sincerely, Matthew Belmonte