Europe's Privacy Cops

The European Union (EU) wants others to
protect electronic data as it does -- and it is
apparently willing to turn you off from their
market, now the world's largest, if you don't
go along.

The law is going to cramp sales styles in the
following ways:

   o  No company will be able to transmit
       personal data about an EU citizen to
       countries whose privacy laws don't
       meet European standards.

       [ NOTE: Germany's data police, the
       Datenschutz, regularly visit Citigroup's
       giant data processing center in South
       Dakota, "to make sure that the data
       of German citizens is being handled
       according to German law".

   o  Companies will have to show customers
       thier complete data profiles, on demand,
       and make all changes that customers
       request.

   o  Web-site owners will NOT be able to
       use data tags known as "cookies" to
       track customer's preferences and move-
       ments -- without their prior permission.

   o  Cross-marketing without customer
       prior approval will be illegal.  "The
       cross-marketing ban means a birdseed
       company can't use its mailing list to
       hawk Audubon calendars."


"Personal privacy is a burning issue (world-
wide) in the New Economy and one that cries
out for regulation." 

We are seeing this movement in the U.S.
with the far-reaching amendments to the
Fair Credit Reporting Act.  Many employers
and vendors are still in denial.  There is un-
doubtedly a lot more to come.