Net Privacy Bill Called 'Trojan Horse'
Privacy from Companies
10/25/2000; 2:30:51 PM

'In May, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) proposed a law to sharply limit the sale of the identifying numbers, which often serve as hooks for electronic dossiers about the whereabouts, credit histories and lifestyles of millions of Americans.

'Then the information industry got involved. Now privacy advocates say Gregg's modified measure, part of an appropriations bill set to pass in the final days of Congress, is a "Trojan horse" that does more harm than good, because loopholes allow giant data brokers, banks, marketers and even private detectives to exchange or sell the numbers among themselves.'

If I'm reading this correctly, this bill's primary purpose is to empower privacy-invading companies to continue to do what they do legally, and to make sure we never have that power. In other words, it grants privacy-violating companies the power to violate privacy for monetary gain, but makes sure that nobody else can do it.  In yet more words, it grants a monopoly to privacy-invasion companys to invade our privacy.

Instead of granting them a monopoly, let's hold them to the provisions of the bill, too.