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Falling Short Of The Mark: The United States Response To The European Union's Data Privacy Directive, Morey Elizabeth Barnes

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In the spring and summer of 2005, the headlines of America's major newspapers provided a constant reminder of an issue about which Americans have grown increasingly worried: data security. Rather than publicizing the war in Iraq or the buzz over potential Supreme Court nominees, these headlines warned: "Info theft slams chain: 1.4 million card numbers stolen;" "Poll Says Identity Theft Concerns Rose After High-Profile Breaches;" "Data Security Breaches Alarm Consumers." In the previous few months, a series of high-profile companies such as Bank of America, Reed Elsevier Group's LexisNexis, PayMaxx, Choice Point, and SAIC had announced that millions of records …