What does Victoria’s Secret have to do with financial information privacy?
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act contains provisions aimed at protecting the privacy of certain nonpublic personal financial information. EPIC explains how a Victoria’s Secret catalog was a catalyst for the enactment of federal financial privacy laws:
Critical support for the Markey Amendment [an amendment to the GLBA which added privacy protections] came from Representative Joe Barton (R-TX). Barton expressed concern that his credit union had sold his address to Victoria’s Secret. Representative Barton noted that he started receiving Victoria’s Secret catalogs at his Washington home. This was troubling—he didn’t want his wife thinking that he bought lingerie for women in Washington, or that he spent his time browsing through such material.
Barton explained that he maintained an account in Washington for incidental expenses, but used it very little. Neither he nor his wife had purchased anything from Victoria’s Secret at the Washington address. Barton smelled a skunk; he reasoned that since he spent so little money in Washington, his credit union was the only business with his address.
11:20pm 
