Political Quotes

“what this amendment proposes is very simple: That we appoint a three-member privacy commission with no more than 25 employees, $1.5 million authorization the first year that would take a look at the whole question of privacy in our country. It is very interesting, as you look at the countries that have privacy commissions, 35 countries have privacy commissions right now: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic. You go down the list. Thirty-five countries. We are the biggest user of this kind of information, and we have no privacy commission. This simply sets up a commission to advise us on where we are going in this field. It is very interesting that the European Community apparently is going to make an advisory to corporations in Europe that they should be careful in providing computer information to the United States because we have no privacy commission and there is no certainty that information can be protected. The group of people who have endorsed this include the American Association of Retired Persons, the Consumer Federation of America, National Consumers League, Public Citizen, Consumer Research Institute, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the American Library Association. Very shortly, Madam President, you and I hope we are going to be moving to health care reform. That is going to add a great many more privacy questions in this country. I think it is essential that we have some protection.…”