Senator Leahy has been a leading
advocate for privacy and consumer protections in the Senate.
Over the years, he has authored key legislation to protect
Americans' personal privacy from identity theft and data-mining.
As the Chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy has again introduced the
Personal Data Privacy and Security Act, a bill that would
prohibit the misuse of sensitive personal data and would require
notice to individuals when their sensitive personal information
has been compromised.
Additionally, President Bush signed legislation co-sponsored
by Senator Leahy to prohibit phone pretexting to obtain consumers'
telephone records and other sensitive information, an important step
to combating identity theft.
In his capacity as Judiciary Committee Chairman, Senator Leahy
convened hearings in the 110th Congress to address the
growing threats posed by data-mining. From identifying threats new
technologies pose to individual privacy, to exercising the Senate's
oversight role in protecting civil liberties, Senator Leahy has worked to
raise awareness of privacy issues in both the public and private
sectors, and to strengthen penalties for violations of laws protecting
individual privacy.
Sen. Leahy speaks at a press conference about protecting consumers from
identity theft.
Resources from the Congressional Research Service:
The Congressional Research
Service provides members of Congress with non-partisan research and
analysis of legislation and issues. It's my goal to make all of
these reports available to the tax payer. You can read more
about my efforts
here.
Until then, I've made the below reports available in PDF form to help
you research this issue further.
Sen. Leahy's Work To Protect Americans' Privacy Click here to
read about Sen. Leahy's oversight work of the NSA's domestic
spying program.
