Consumer Financial Privacy Legislation and Regulation—2004 Developments

摘要

Although 2004 did not usher in additional federal privacy legislation and other states did not follow the lead set by California in 2003, consumer financial privacy issues nevertheless helped shape important legal and regulatory developments. A number of the provisions of the FACT Act directly impact privacy-related issues. As final rules are published implementing these requirements, the scope of privacy protection provided by financial institutions and other entities will continue to expand. Time will tell whether other states will follow the lead set by the California legislature and adopt comprehensive consumer financial privacy legislation. The recent court decision upholding the California Privacy law may embolden other states to adopt similar legislation in 2005. The privacy landscape will likely continue to be dotted with more and more state privacy-related statutes designed to address narrowly tailored issues, such as identity theft and the protection of SSNs and other consumer information. Consumer privacy continues to be a hot topic at the federal and state levels, and new laws and regulations addressing privacy will likely continue to spread like kudzu.