Graham-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999: Passed in 1999, the GLBA requires financial services organizations to create privacy policies, which they must share with their customers, and governs how information can be shared within and between institutions.

Cyberterrorism Preparedness Act of 2002: Sen. John Edwards’s (D-N.C.) proposal would tighten and continually update information security requirements for federal agencies. Eventually, all government contractors could be subject to the bill.

Consumer Privacy Protection Act of 2002: This yet-to-be-passed leg- islation, sponsored by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), requires all online businesses and offline corporations that engage in e-commerce to inform consumers what information is collected and how it is used. Furthermore, consumers have the right to limit the amount of information a website can collect, allowing a visitor to leave a website without surrendering personally identifiable data, such as a name, address or credit card number.

Federal Privacy and Data Protection Policy Act of 2002: Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.) introduced this bill that requires government agencies to come up with privacy policies, appoint a privacy manager and undergo third-party privacy audits.