Ed Markey: “if the line of juris prudence that we are now operating under is allowed to stand, then we are in a situation in which…”

“if the line of juris prudence that we are now operating under is allowed to stand, then we are in a situation in which there is no effective regulation of a bank, an insurance company, or a securities firm sharing of a consumer's personal financial information and no State regulation of such transactions. In other words, we are left with a regulatory black hole in which neither the Federal Government nor the States are regulating what is going on within this affiliate structure where one part of a firm gets it and then shares it with all of its affiliates, stockbrokers, insurance, you name it. All of the family's secrets are then spread throughout the country and to anyone that is affiliated with them as an independent operator as well. This is unacceptable. And it means we have no Federal standard for consumer consent regarding affiliate sharing and preemption of any State law dealing with the subject. What the Lee amendment says is that we should close this black hole so that if the Federal Government is unwilling or unable to effectively address affiliate sharing, sharing it with all the companies which this bank or insurance company or stock brokerage has, taking all their secrets and starting to share it with all these other companies, then the States can do so.”