Task force to study privacy rights for electronic information

A 32-member state task force will examine Iowans’ “privacy rights” when it comes to e-mail, bank accounts and medical records. Governor Tom Vilsack says at least half of the task force members will be consumers. Vilsack says information is an extremely hot commodity, and as a result, privacy is potentially an endangered phenomenon. Vilsack cited a Maryland case in which a banker who accessed medical records called in the loans of a client who had been diagnosed with cancer. Vilsack says while the federal government is trying to deal with the privacy of medical and financial records, the state should consider the issue as well. Vilsack is asking the group to submit its final recommendations this time next year.