Continental Parlor 3 Hilton San Francisco and Towers Ballroom Level
Section on Financial Institutions and Consumer Financial Services Geoffrey P. Miller, New York University, Chair Patricia A. McCoy, Cleveland State University, Program Chair
Financial Privacy after Gramm-Leach-Bliley
Moderator:
Patricia A. McCoy, Cleveland State University
Speakers:
Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School Enid Miller, First Vice President and Privacy Officer, Mellon Bank, N.A., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Deirdre Mulligan, Center for Democracy and Technology, Washington, D.C. Joel R. Reidenberg, Fordham University Peter P. Swire, The Ohio State University
Consumer financial privacy has always been of concern, but in recent years it has come to the fore. In part, this growing public concern can be explained by the increased commodification of consumer information due to advances in computer technology. Similarly, Congress' decision in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 to approve new financial services megastores, with commercial banks, securities underwriters and insurance companies under one roof, intensified privacy concerns. In the legislation, Congress permitted banks, securities firms and insurers owned by a common holding company to exchange confidential customer information freely with each other, without customer consent. Outside of the holding company, those same financial services providers may sell confidential customer information to third parties unless customers opt out, as is their right under the law.
How should the law resolve the clash between consumer privacy and business prerogatives? As this session will explore, the United States has made a series of policy choices, some deliberate and some through default, that have set it at odds with the approach to financial privacy taken by the European Union. This session will explore the implications of those choices for individual privacy, for the stability of the financial system and for globalization of financial services. In addition, the session will ask whether other solutions to privacy concerns are preferable to legal solutions, such as solutions provided by the market or by code.