Increasingly, business, consumer, and banking transactions are conducted electronically through the use of sophisticated computers. To facilitate this computerized commerce, entire financial histories are kept on electronic file and made available to banks and credit agencies. However, as computer hackers have demonstrated, computerized information can be obtained by anyone with the requisite computer knowledge. Although most people like the convenience and speed of electronic transactions that computers have made possible, many find it dismaying that personal financial information is so easily available to those who might misuse it.

Computer privacy advocates worry that the banks and credit agencies that legitimately collect computerized financial records may wittingly or unwittingly provide private information to intrusive marketers. Though marketers regularly use disparate sources to compile information on consumers, privacy advocates object to the fact that marketers can now use financial databases...