Consumers: The Missing Piece in a Piecemeal Approach to Privacy

Under the current US regime, consumers have inadequate knowledge and control regarding how companies disclose their personal information to third parties. Consisting of industry-specific and state laws, ad hoc FTC enforcement, and self-regulation, this piecemeal approach to privacy leaves consumers in most cases with little actual knowledge about who will receive their information and how they will use it. In order to address this problem, this paper proposes a federal law that would require companies to provide consumers with notice describing in detail the intended third party recipients and their proposed uses, and a choice as to whether or not the company may disclose the personal information to such third parties. The law would be backed with a private right of action.