by Dianne Feinstein

About the author: Dianne Feinstein is the senior U.S. senator from California.

[In June 2001] Americans were inundated by letter upon letter from banks, credit-card companies, and other financial institutions explaining their privacy policies. Why? So that these companies could comply with the July 1, 2001, deadline as required by the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley banking deregulation law.

Most people, however, threw these notices in the trash. The material was confusing and often disregarded. But if you didn’t take the notice seriously, the company may be free to sell your personal information to anyone willing to buy it.

Identity Piracy: A Growing Problem

Put simply, the 1999 law didn’t go far enough to protect Americans’ personal information. As a result, people are more at risk from identity theft than ever before.

Increasingly, your personal information...