I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4049
To establish the Commission for the Comprehensive Study of Privacy
Protection.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 21, 2000
Mr. HUTCHINSON (for himself, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Ms. GRANGER, Mr.
BRADY of Texas, Mr. DAVIS of Florida, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr.
SUNUNU, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr. COBURN, Mr. DICKEY, Mr.
KLECZKA, Mr. PITTS, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. RILEY, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr.
LUCAS of Oklahoma, Mr. KOLBE, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mrs. KELLY, Mr.
DAVIS of Virginia, and Mr. VITTER) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Government Reform
A BILL
To establish the Commission for the Comprehensive Study
of Privacy Protection.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Privacy Commission
Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Americans are increasingly concerned about
their civil liberties and the security and use of their
personal information, including medical records, edu-
cational records, library records, magazine subscrip-
tion records, records of purchases of goods and other
payments, and driver’s license numbers.
(2) Commercial entities are increasingly aware
that consumers expect them to adopt privacy policies
and take all appropriate steps to protect the per-
sonal information of consumers.
(3) There is a growing concern about the con-
fidentiality of medical records, because there are in-
adequate Federal guidelines and a patchwork of con-
fusing State and local rules regarding privacy pro-
tection for individually identifiable patient informa-
tion.
(4) In light of recent changes in financial serv-
ices laws allowing for increased sharing of informa-
tion between traditional financial institutions and in-
surance entities, a coordinated and comprehensive
review is necessary regarding the protections of per-
sonal data compiled by the health care, insurance,
and financial services industries.
(5) The use of Social Security numbers has ex-
panded beyond the uses originally intended.
(6) Use of the Internet has increased at as-
tounding rates, with approximately 5 million current
Internet sites and 64 million regular Internet users
each month in the United States alone.
(7) Financial transactions over the Internet
have increased at an astounding rate, with 17 mil-
lion American households spending $20 billion shop-
ping on the Internet last year.
(8) Use of the Internet as a medium for com-
mercial activities will continue to grow, and it is esti-
mated that by the end of 2000, 56 percent of the
companies in the United States will sell their prod-
ucts on the Internet.
(9) There have been reports of surreptitious
collection of consumer data by Internet marketers
and questionable distribution of personal information
by on-line companies.
(10) In 1999, the Federal Trade Commission
found that 87 percent of Internet sites provided
some form of privacy notice, which represented an
increase from 15 percent in 1998.
(11) The United States is the leading economic
and social force in the global information economy,
largely because of a favorable regulatory climate and
the free flow of information. It is important for the
United States to continue that leadership. As na-
tions and governing bodies around the world begin
to establish privacy standards, these standards will
directly affect the United States.
(12) The shift from an industry-focused econ-
omy to an information-focused economy calls for a
reassessment of the most effective way to balance
personal privacy and information use, keeping in
mind the potential for unintended effects on tech-
nology development, innovation, the marketplace,
and privacy needs.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT.
There is established a commission to be known as the
‘‘Commission for the Comprehensive Study of Privacy
Protection’’ (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’).
SEC. 4. DUTIES OF COMMISSION.
(a) STUDY.—The Commission shall conduct a study
of issues relating to protection of individual privacy and
the appropriate balance to be achieved between protecting
individual privacy and allowing appropriate uses of infor-
mation, including the following:
(1) The monitoring, collection, and distribution
of personal information by Federal, State, and local
governments, including personal information col-
lected for a decennial census, and such personal in-
formation as a driver’s license number.
(2) Current efforts to address the monitoring,
collection, and distribution of personal information
by Federal and State governments, individuals, or
entities, including—
(A) existing statutes and regulations relat-
ing to the protection of individual privacy, such
as section 552a of title 5, United States Code
(commonly referred to as the Privacy Act of
1974) and section 552 of title 5, United States
Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of
Information Act);
(B) legislation pending before the Con-
gress;
(C) privacy protection efforts undertaken
by the Federal Government, State governments,
foreign governments, and international gov-
erning bodies;
(D) privacy protection efforts undertaken
by the private sector; and
(E) self-regulatory efforts initiated by the
private sector to respond to privacy issues.
(3) The monitoring, collection, and distribution
of personal information by individuals or entities, in-
cluding access to and use of medical records, finan-
cial records (including credit cards, automated teller
machine cards, bank accounts, and Internet trans-
actions), personal information provided to on-line
sites accessible through the Internet, Social Security
numbers, insurance records, education records, and
driver’s license numbers.
(b) FIELD HEARINGS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall con-
duct at least four field hearings in each of the five
geographical regions of the United States.
(2) BOUNDARIES.—For purposes of this sub-
section, the Commission may determine the bound-
aries of the five geographical regions of the United
States.
(c) REPORT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months
after 
appointment 
of 
all 
members 
of 
the
Commission—
(A) a majority of the members of the Com-
mission shall approve a report; and
(B) the Commission shall submit the ap-
proved report to the Congress and the Presi-
dent.
(2) CONTENTS.—The report shall include a de-
tailed statement of findings, conclusions, and rec-
ommendations, including the following:
(A) Findings on potential threats posed to
individual privacy.
(B) Analysis of purposes for which sharing
of information is appropriate and beneficial to
consumers.
(C) Analysis of the effectiveness of existing
statutes, regulations, private sector self-regu-
latory efforts, technology advances, and market
forces in protecting individual privacy.
(D) Recommendations on whether addi-
tional legislation is necessary, and if so, specific
suggestions on proposals to reform or augment
current laws and regulations relating to indi-
vidual privacy.
(E) Analysis of purposes for which addi-
tional regulations may impose undue costs or
burdens, or cause unintended consequences in
other policy areas, such as security, law en-
forcement, medical research, or critical infra-
structure protection.
(F) Cost analysis of legislative or regu-
latory changes proposed in the report.