TOWARDS A NATIONAL PRIVACY LAW
Corporate Counsel Section
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Businesses that collect and
use individuals’ personal
information should keep
abreast of future privacy
law developments.
U
nless you have been
sleeping under a rock,
you have probably
noticed that Congress
seems unable to agree on virtually
anything these days, with party
partisanship frequently inhibiting
Congress’s ability to reach
agreement on pending legislation.
But, while Republicans and
Democrats might differ on the
#5
specifics, both parties agree that
there is a critical need for a
comprehensive national privacy law.
The impetus for federal privacy
legislation appears to be a bipartisan
desire to provide more extensive and
uniform protection for individuals’
sensitive personal information.
Currently, a patchwork of federal
and state laws exists to protect
personal information and to address
the consequences of data breaches
compromising such information.
For instance, at the federal level, the
Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
contains data privacy and security
provisions for safeguarding medical
information. Additionally, every
state has now enacted some form
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