Ten Privacy and Consumer Groups Ask Congressional Leaders to Strengthen Privacy Bill

/PRNewswire/ -- In response to a discussion draft of a new privacy bill currently under consideration by the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, ten leading privacy and consumer organizations today called for much stronger provisions to protect consumer privacy both online and off.

The groups, including the Consumer Federation of America, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Consumer Watchdog, World Privacy Forum, Consumer Action, USPIRG, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Privacy Times, Privacy Lives, and the Center for Digital Democracy, raised their concerns in a letter to Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher and Ranking Member Cliff Stearns.

Read the letter, released by the groups today, here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/LTRBoucherStearns060410.pdf

Recognizing that "consumers increasingly rely on the Internet and other digital services for a wide range of transactions and services, many of which involve their most sensitive affairs, including health, financial, and other personal matters," the groups' letter made a number of recommendations for strengthening the draft privacy bill, including the following items:

-- The bill should incorporate the Fair Information Practice Principles
that have long served as the bedrock of consumer privacy protection in
the U.S., including the principle of not collecting more data than is
necessary for the stated purposes, limits on how long data should be
retained, and a right to access and correct one's data.
-- The bill's definitions of what constitutes "sensitive information"
need to be expanded; for instance, to include health-related
information beyond just "medical records."
-- The bill should require strict "opt-in" procedures for the collection
and use of covered data and should prohibit the collection and use of
any sensitive information except for the transactions for which
consumers provided it.


"We are committed to working with you to achieve real privacy protection for consumers," the letter concluded.

In addition to the comments in the letter, the ten groups offered a draft "findings" section to be included in the privacy legislation. Read the proposed findings section here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/PrivacyBillFindings060410.pdf

"Consumers online are being stealthily tracked, profiled and targeted by marketers -- who are able to obtain personal information regarding their finances, health, ethnicity, and their families," said Jeff Chester, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Democracy. "The public should not be placed at risk as they grow to rely on the Internet and mobile phones when making purchases and searching for information. Reps. Boucher and Stearns have launched an important debate that must lead to real privacy safeguards for consumers. Both political parties should work together to revise this proposal and enact landmark 21st Century consumer protection legislation."

"The draft bill has served to launch the debate," said John M. Simpson, a consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog, "but substantial revisions are necessary to provide meaningful privacy protection for consumers. In its present form the bill would lock in a bankrupt 'notice and choice' model and offer few real protections. Enacting no legislation would be better than passing this flawed bill in its current form."

"Consumers need strong privacy legislation that sets the default switch on tracking consumers or selling or sharing their information to OFF, and gives consumers real control of their personal data," said Ed Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director of USPIRG. "If a Congressional proposal doesn't protect consumers, and isn't based on all the Fair Information Practices, but only on some limited, industry-approved 'here's our take-it-or-leave-it list,' then make no mistake, we will oppose it."

"We're tired of companies paying lip-service to privacy but using consumers' personal information for whatever they want, without giving consumers any meaningful control," said Susan Grant, Director of Consumer Protection at Consumer Federation of America. "We need a law that forces companies to build respect for privacy into their business models, and we believe that they will ultimately benefit from increased consumer confidence."

"It has long been the goal of consumer and privacy advocates to see meaningful privacy protection legislation passed at the federal level, to protect consumers and to strengthen online commerce," said Linda Sherry, director of national priorities at Consumer Action. "But this draft, despite all the good intentions of House leaders, is full of holes -- not the least of which are that it would supersede even stronger state regulations and that it does not provide for a private right of action for aggrieved individuals."

U.S. Citizens Association Files Suit to Overturn Health Care Law

/PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Citizens Association, an Ohio-based conservative organization, with over 23,000 members, has filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Akron, Ohio to repeal the Health Care Bill signed into law in March.

The U.S. Citizens Association has assembled a team of Constitutional litigators to launch a full-scale legal war against the Obama administration's health insurance reform legislation, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The U.S. Citizens' Association is a non-profit corporation civic league with offices in Akron, Ohio. The Executive Director is Lance Davis. It has hired three law firms to make the case in Federal Court that the new law violates protections afforded by the Bill of Rights to Americans.

The U.S. Citizens Association believes that the First Amendment guarantees their members the right to "not associate" with anybody they choose not to, including health insurers and their agents.

The U.S. Citizens Association believes that under several amendments of the Constitution their members have a right to privacy that will be lost when they are forced to divulge confidential medical information, possibly including data derived from blood, urine and DNA samples, physical examinations, listing past or current illnesses, diseases and daily medications as applicants for mandated health insurance coverage.

The U.S. Citizens Association believes that the new law forces members who do not have health insurance nor ever want it to purchase with after- tax dollars, an unwanted product - health insurance. Members' personal liberty right, that is, the right to choose to buy or not buy health insurance is being deprived.

The U.S. Citizens Association uninsured members who have never engaged in interstate commerce involving health insurance, are being wrongfully compelled by federal law to purchase unwanted health insurance due to the wrongful application of the federal interstate commerce clause.

The U.S. Citizens Association believes that the new law provides for a tax penalty not authorized by the Constitution. This tax penalty is an illegal direct excise tax on a non-activity. This is not a tax on property or income and as an excise tax it was not apportioned according to the Constitution.

The lawyers selected to handle the history-making lawsuit include William G. Williams of Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty Co., L.P.A., in Canton, Ohio; Jonathan Emord of Emord & Associates in Washington, D.C.; and David C. Grossack of Newton, Massachusetts.

Mr. Williams is known for his extensive work in commercial litigation and oil and gas law. Mr. Grossack is known for bringing an action against the Trial Court of Massachusetts for gender bias and is also the author of the book How to Win a Lawsuit Without A Lawyer. He is also known as a strong advocate for the rights of unrepresented parties in court. Mr. Emord is active in constitutional litigation with regard to the First Amendment, the Food and Drug Administration, deceptive advertising and libel, plus he is the author of numerous publications.

The U.S. Citizens Association is devoted to protecting individual liberties and promoting conservative values, fiscal responsibility, and the American private enterprise economic system. It includes, as part of its mission, challenging violations of the Constitution by elected public government officials that threaten the federal republic created by the U.S. Constitution.

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Will Patient Privacy Be Sold for Stimulus Money?

/PRNewswire/ -- The key to enforcing healthcare reform was already passed in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the Stimulus Bill. This contains $17 billion to encourage physicians and hospitals to adopt electronic health records.

Doctors might not take the bribe. An informal online survey by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) so far shows that 90 percent of more than 1,100 respondents answer "No" to the question "Should doctors take the 'Stimulus' money to computerize their offices?" See www.aapsonline.org.

To get the subsidy of up to $65,000 over 5 years, doctors have to use a government-approved system. Such a system must be "interoperable" -- which means able to share patients' private information with more than 600,000 different entities.

No patient consent is needed.

Doctors are warned: "If you take the stimulus money to computerize your office, the government will own your patients' medical records -- and possibly your practice," states Jane M. Orient, M.D., executive director of AAPS.

The system will have to be capable of generating lists of patients by specific conditions, to use for "quality improvement," reduction of disparities, research, and outreach. It will have to contain decision rules as for ordering diagnostic tests, and a way to track compliance with the rules. Doctors' pay will be tied to achieving the government's desired outcomes.

The government's purposes include cutting spending and meeting population health goals. The doctor's calling, in contrast, has traditionally been to serve each individual patient.

Changing from a sickness to a wellness orientation means that healthy young workers (taxpayers and voters) have a priority higher than older, sicker folks.

Under the Senate healthcare reform bill, a computer will determine, at the point of service, whether or not an individual is eligible to receive a specific service at a specific facility. The interoperable health record would contain information such as ethnicity, race, preferred language, smoking status, weight, body mass index, age, and compliance with past treatment, related to patient worthiness and societal goals.

"Interoperability" is what the $17 billion buys for the government. It's essential for central government monitoring and control of doctors -- and their patients.

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