This information could be valuable. Theoretically, if you used the card to buy a circular saw and electric drill at Sears, you could get mail and phone calls from Wal-Mart informing you about special deals on building supplies. Likewise, they could let you block the data-sharing or not. Under that option, businesses wouldn't be able to share any information unless the consumer consented. Business groups say the economy could be crippled if the law allowed consumers to halt the flow of information that way.
Businesses point out that they share consumers' data all the time.
For example, banks have to provide your name, address and checking-account number to check printers, and businesses report your payment history to credit bureaus. The business argument won the day in Congress. As a backup position, Consumers Union, PIRG and Consumer Federation of America lobbied Congress to allow consumers to opt out of all information sharing. But by that time, congressional committees had shot down the opt-in option. U.S. Highway 1, North Palm Beach, Fl.