The United States has approached the issue of privacy rights by sector. For example:
- the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970;
- the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984;
- the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986;
- the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988;
- the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1994.
Although this record does demonstrate that US privacy law has by tradition protected the privacy of consumers in when technology enables new commercial services, there are significant dangers to this piecemeal approach. As observed by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, the four main results of this legal framework are:
- Consumer confusion: Most consumers have a limited understanding of what their privacy rights really are. The trouble is that although most people are in general agreement over the importance and validity of privacy and the protection of one’s personal information, there is no codification of this overall belief in the United States. Although there is a Privacy Act, it is limited in that it only addresses what federal government agencies can do with personal information, not the commercial sector at large.
- Lack of transparency: Consumer are rarely, if ever, aware when companies are collecting their personal information. Needless to say, they are further unaware of what that information will be used for. Supermarkets track one’s purchasing patterns through membership programs, mail order catalogs build a history of one’s purchases, and online advertisement companies record every site you visit.
- Absence of regulation: The lack of transparency has become the norm. It is assumed that companies have complete authority to retrieve consumer data and use it without asking for permission. For instance, consider the reaction of the Direct Marketing Association when the Supreme Court upheld the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act: "[it is] death to us...If you can’t use information about a person without permission, that generally means you’re not going to have a list of any great substance." (Greenberger, Wall Street Journal, 1/28/2000).
- Low consumer confidence: Basically, consumers do not trust companies. This has been explored previously in the section entitled "Concerns About Privacy."
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