• On February 10, 2011, Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., introduced his promised privacy bill as HR 611, the Building Effective Strategies To Promote Responsibility Accountability Choice Transparency Innovation Consumer Expectations and Safeguards Act, or the “BEST PRACTICES Act”. The legislation would apply to “covered entities” engaged in interstate commerce that store “covered information”, such as an email address or telephone number, or “sensitive information”, such as medical history, about 15,000 persons or more, and entities that collect such information from 10,000 or more persons in a 12-month period. Covered entities would be required to provide in a “concise, meaningful, timely, prominent, and easy-to-understand” manner several types of information to affected persons, such as the purpose for collecting the information and how long it will be retained. The bill has an opt-out provision with regard to the covered entity, but an opt-in provision with regard to sharing information with third parties. It allows for private actions as well as FTC and state enforcement. To view the bill, click here.