The trade in personal information

In this interconnected, Internet world, information flows freely along the superhighway. Taken together with the growth in e-commerce, this information explosion has perhaps made Americans less wary of revealing personal information.

We give such details, including our credit card numbers, to voices on the other end of a mail-order line or as requested on the screen when on-line ordering. We accept assurances that these financial data will remain confidential. Because of this, some people may view with equanimity the possibilities for personal information being shared between financial institutions such as banks or insurance companies as the walls between these businesses come down.

But any expansion of the trade in personal information should be viewed with some skepticism. So it is encouraging that rules have been proposed, and supported by Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, that would make the sharing by financial institutions of even such seemingly innocuous information as names and addressees with telemarketers more difficult. The kicker is that customers of these financial institutions must ask that the information not be shared.

That places the onus on the wrong party. The cause of privacy would be better served if permission of the individual had to be sought before personal data could be shared.

-- The Blade, Toledo, Ohio, USA