Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
Attention: Privacy-P, Room G-322A
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
Hubert H. Humphrey Building
200 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, DC 20201

Sent Via Overnight Delivery

Re: Comments on Proposed Federal Rule for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information -- RIN 0991-AB08

Dear Assistant Secretary:

Opening Presentation by Beth Givens
Santa Clara University, Symposium on Internet Privacy
Computer and High Technology Law Journal
February 11-12, 2000

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this symposium on Internet Privacy. I am honored be here and to speak on consumers' expectations of privacy protection on the Net.

Note: The following letters were written by a customer of the Rite Aid Pharmacy about its marketing practices. They were shared with the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and permission was granted to post them here. Rite Aid has recently been the subject of several media reports about its aggressive marketing of pharmaceutical products and other consumer-unfriendly practices, including selling date-sensitive products well past the due dates. Rite-Aid is the largest pharmacy chain in California.

The following are the comments of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse for the May 1999 "Georgetown Internet Privacy Policy Survey." A similar survey was conducted in 1998 by the Federal Trade Commission. Survey results can be found at the web site of the study's director, Prof. Mary Culnan, of the School of Business at Georgetown University.
http://www.msb.edu/faculty/culnanm/gippshome.html

I am one of Bari Nessel's victims. Along with my identity she took my trust in people, especially employers, she stole my sense of security and financial safety, and she took my ability to get credit cards, loans or purchase a major ticket item without going through hours of red tape, only to possibly have my purchase or credit request rejected.

San Diego County Board of Supervisors' Meeting

Good afternoon. I am Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. We are a nonprofit consumer information and advocacy program based here in San Diego. I have a brief statement in the form of questions regarding the privacy implications of privatizing the County's information technology systems.

Remarks by Beth Givens, Director
Promoting Health / Protecting Privacy
Workshop sponsored by Consumers Union
and California HealthCare Foundation
San Diego, CA

My name is Beth Givens. I am the director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, formerly of the Center for Public Interest Law at the University of San Diego, and now associated with the nonprofit consumer organization UCAN, the Utility Consumers' Action Network.

By Beth Givens, Director
U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Privacy Forum
Washington D.C.

I have been asked by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to present an overview of consumers' concerns about financial privacy and security. I think the best way for me to do that is to tell you about some of the cases that have come to my attention from people calling our hotline or sending e-mail messages.

Case 1

Presentation to Western Regional
Home Management and Family Economics Educators
Salt Lake City, Utah
By Beth Givens, Director

Privacy on the Internet is exploding as a topic of public concern these days. Recent surveys have found that 4 out 5 Net users are concerned about threats to their privacy when they're online. Yet only 6% of them have actually experienced privacy abuses.