New York Considers Banning The “Harvesting” of Email Addresses
On January 7, 2009, legislation was introduced in the New York State Assembly that would prohibit the sale, lease, or exchange of consumers’ e-mail addresses or other personally identifiable information obtained online without providing the applicable consumer with (i) clear and conspicuous notice of the collection of the information and (ii) the ability to opt-out of the sale or lease of the information. “Personally-identifiable Information”, as used in the proposed law, is defined broadly to include, but not be limited to, a person’s social security number, date of birth, current and prior addresses and a mother’s maiden name.
The proposed legislation, New York Assembly Bill 272, which is in the Assembly Consumer Affairs and Protection Committee, would grant the state attorney general authority to enforce the law. Under the proposed legislation, violators would be subject to fines of up to $1,000 per violation.
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Jacqueline Klosek, Senior Counsel in the Business Law Department of Goodwin Procter LLP, is a frequent author and commentator on data privacy and security. You can email her at jacquelineklosek@gmail.com -
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