State
populism good for privacy
BERKELEY,
(U-Wire) --
For the past two months, California's appearance
in the national spotlight has been anything
but glamorous. Its citizens, the consensus
seems to be, are willing to throw the state
into chaos in order to exercise their unusual
power of recalling the governor.
In
a recent op-ed in The Washington Post, Susan
Rasky, senior lecturer at the UC Berkeley
School of Journalism, wrote, "underneath
the thinnest veneer of populism, this recall
is about campaigns and strategies orchestrated
by professional political consultants operating
to further their own careers, settle old
scores and advance candidates who could
never survive in the regular election process."
But
this week, Californians witnessed a positive
example of populism when a new ballot initiative
paved the way for approval of a law that
prevents banks from selling their clients'
personal information to third parties without
permission.
As
students are starting to create their credit
history, card companies, including many
with tables around campus, are trying to
hook this age group with promises of free
gifts upon signing up. Even if the card
is never used, our information is sold and
we become advertising targets of third party
companies.
The
logic of the law seems basic enough -- but
its four-year path through the Legislature
as a bill has been tenuous in the face of
a $20 million counter-lobbying campaign
funded by the financial-services industry.
Only
after 600,000 people signed a petition to
put a more restrictive version of the bill
on the 2004 ballot did the financial-services
industry end their lobbying efforts and
legislators quickly reverse their positions
to turn the bill into a law.
California's
lawmakers deserve praise for finally recognizing
the importance of protecting an individual's
most private records. But the real credit
belongs to those who motivated and supported
the initiative that forced Sacramento to
respond to public, not private, interest.
While
members of our golden state might occasionally
make erratic decisions, we have undeniably
realized the power to reshape Sacramento's
agenda. It is now time to take that power,
through our Congressional representatives,
to Washington to ensure that the Fair Credit
Reporting Act and any other laws that suggest
an invasion of privacy are not passed into
law.
This
column originally appeared in The Daily
Californian at UC Berkeley.
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