The European Union Data Privacy Directive

In an increasingly wired world, even our mundane daily transactions leave permanent records.What brand of toothpaste do we buy?Ask the supermarket's marketing department, which maintains a database of our "discount card" purchases.What stores do we frequent?Check with the credit card company, which tracks our every purchase.Which movies do we rent?Tap into the video-rental store's computer, and retrieve the records in an instant.With the omnipresence of the computer, coupled with the interconnectivity of the Internet, not only can such individual firms keep and analyze detailed records about us, but they can also spread such information quickly and easily anywhere in the world.The ubiquity of computers and the growth of networks have made the collection, analysis, and dissemination of personal data inexpensive and easy.This growth has also led to a heightened concern about the level of protection afforded to personal data.National boundaries no longer present a barrier to data flows; therefore, a regulatory regime with traditional, territory-based rules can have only a limited effect.Some countries seeking to protect the privacy of their citizens' data have done so in ways that extend the reach of their data privacy laws into other countries.Conflict over such reach is virtually inevitable and, if serious, will likely impede the growth of worldwide electronic commerce.In the European Union ("EU"), governments have moved aggressively to regulate the use of personal data.In the United States, on the other hand, the government has largely refrained from such regulation, instead allowing companies and associations to regulate themselves, save for a small number of narrowly drawn regulations targeting specific industries.'