What privacy laws exist to protect computer users?

NATCHITOCHES - Carol Forsloff - "I don't want anyone to be able to know where I live and what I do," she
complained, after learning that an organization had posted information
they promised not to do, something that now concerns many people.

Internet privacy laws in the world are various, some non-existent and

others ambiguous.  An attorney examines what has recently occurred in
China in issuing specifics about Internet privacy and what repercussions
there might be for individuals invading it without specific
authorization.


China is, according to the law firm MMLC Group - MMLC Murphy Wang, making amendments to its laws to address privacy issues.  The legal
experts tell us, "Given societies constantly increasing use of the
Internet and computers, the speed and ease at which valuable personal
information can be gathered and sold, is frightening. Some commentators
believe that it is imperative for China to enact a special privacy law
which will provide more effective and complete protection for privacy
and personal information."


The law firm points out that information was being sold in such great
numbers, from state officials to private groups doing the selling, that
new restrictions on Internet privacy were enacted.


The United States Constitution, lawyers point out, does not specifically address privacy by using the word intently.  This makes Internet regulation more difficult, and loosely defined, as one attorney specifically points out.  Furthermore the Freedom of Information Act, enacted in 1966, allows users to access federal records of anyone, unless they are records controlled by the White House or security agencies.


Even the FTC has addressed the problem of Internet privacy and declares
it is time to legislate the issue and enact regulations to address it.


The barrier, in the United States, to regulation of personal privacy, is
the resistance of Internet users themselves, who continue to want access
to everyone at anytime anywhere and condemn those who seek Internet
controls.  Even the Department of Justice is said to laud the free and open use of the Internet as it is.


China, on the other hand, observes the urgency and is beginning to
address regulation of personal privacy in their laws.  In the U.S. right
now it's up to every man and woman to do it for themselves in a nation where  the Wild West of the Internet concept rules.