Bruce F. Vento: “today I rise to speak with regard to the matter of personal privacy and the absolute vulnerability and risks and abuses…”

“today I rise to speak with regard to the matter of personal privacy and the absolute vulnerability and risks and abuses that are taking place with regard to personal privacy. I specifically want to reference the use of the Internet, the Internet system, the online service providers and web sites that exist on the Internet. The Internet, of course, is accessible through our computers and the online services that we purchase. Earlier this year, in fact last year, in 1996, I first introduced legislation that would require an affirmative action by the individual Internet user, the subscriber, to permit the use of personal information; that is to say, the telephone numbers, the e-mail address, and the profile that is possible. A service provider or for that matter a web site can in fact, through the information and activities that an individual uses on the Internet, can in fact make almost a complete profile of all the web sites that you visit and utilize. They can do this, quite frankly, without the knowledge of an Internet user; that is, a subscriber or web site can in fact do that. It is as if you are walking down the street with $100 bills sticking out of your pocket and you are not aware of it. That is to say, we as individual Internet users are very vulnerable.”