News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - October 31, 1997
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Locke to lead forum on balancing privacy, consumer protection, access

OLYMPIA - Gov. Gary Locke will sponsor a discussion among citizens, policy makers and a variety of legal, academic and other experts on how to protect individual privacy while retaining reasonable access to information held by public agencies.

The day-long forum, billed as "A Conversation with the Governor: Balancing Privacy, Consumer Protection and Access in an Electronic Age," will be held November 17 at the University of Washington, in the East Ballroom on the second floor of the Student Union Building from 8:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

The purpose of the forum is to raise public awareness about privacy issues and to educate policy makers and other key stakeholders about the trade-offs involved in protecting the privacy of citizens and consumers while safeguarding public access to information.

Locke said he is committed to finding ways to better protect the privacy of individual citizens without infringing upon the public's right to know about the workings of their government. "In an age when technology is advancing by leaps and bounds and the commercial value of information held by public agencies is rapidly escalating, individual privacy rights are coming under more pressure than ever before," Locke said. "I am disturbed by how easily people can discover the most personal details about others, including purchasing habits, health records, and other sensitive information. I want to protect the privacy of citizens."

The program will include demonstrations by private investigators of how, under current laws, it is possible to gain information about someone's credit history, banking practices, shopping habits and their health.

Recommendations for new laws could emerge from the roundtable dialogues that will focus on four issues: confidentiality of health records; commercial access to public records; the roles of government and business in regulating commercial uses of various databases; and practices of businesses providing personal "dossier" or "look-up" services.

Locke will deliver opening remarks and will participate in the four roundtable discussions that will bring together representatives of business, health care and the media as well as public officials, civil libertarians and concerned citizens.

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