Right to Financial Privacy Act: Difference between revisions

| nickname =

| enacted by = 95th

| effective date =

| public law url =

| cite public law = {{uspl|95|630}}

| acts amended =

| acts repealed =

| title amended = <!--US code titles changed-->

| leghisturl = httphttps://betawww.congress.gov/bill/95th-congress/house-bill/14279/all-actions-with-amendments/

| introducedin = House

| introducedbill = H.R.14279

| introducedby = [[Henry S. Reuss|Henry Reuss]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|D-]]–[[Wisconsin|WI-5]]) and [[Frank Annunzio]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|D-]]–[[Illinois|IL-11]])

| introduceddate = October 10, 1978

| committees = [[United States House Committee on Banking, Currency, and Housing|House Committee on Banking, Currency, and Housing]], [[United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs|Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs]]

| passedbody1 = House

| passeddate1 = October 11, 1978

| passedvote1 =

| passedbody2 = Senate

| passedas2 = <!-- used if the second body changes the name of the legislation -->

| passeddate2 = October 12, 1978

| passedvote2 =

| conferencedate =

| passedbody3 = House

| passeddate3 = October 14, 1978

| passedvote3 =

| agreedbody3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee -->

| agreeddate3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee -->

| agreedvote3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee -->

| agreedbody4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation -->

| agreeddate4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation -->

| agreedvote4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation -->

| passedbody4 = Senate

| passeddate4 = October 14, 1978

| passedvote4 =

| signeddate = SeptemberNovember 10, 1978

| unsigneddate = <!-- used when passed without presidential signing -->

| vetoeddate = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->

| amendments = [[Patriot Act|USA PATRIOT Act]]

| SCOTUS cases =

Before the Act was passed, the United States government did not have to tell customers that it was accessing their records, and customers did not have the right to prevent such actions. The Act came about after the [[United States Supreme Court]] held, in ''[[United_States_v._Miller_(1976)|United States v. Miller]]'' 425 U.S. 435 (1976), that financial records are the property of the financial institution with which they are held, rather than the property of the customer.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Denning|first=Brannon P.|date=1995–1996|title=Can the Simple Be Trusted: Lower Court Interpretations of United States v. Miller and the Second Amendment|url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/cumlr26&id=973&div=&collection=|journal=Cumberland Law Review|volume=26|pages=961}}</ref> Under the RFPA, the government must receive the consent of the customer before they can access said customer's financial information.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jones|first=Sarah Elizabeth|dateyear=1988|title=Right to Financial Privacy: Emerging Standards of Bank Compliance|url=|journal=Banking Law Journal|volume=105|pages=37–51|via=}}</ref> The Act prescribes statutory damages of $100 per violation, and a number of different violations can be aggregated in a [[class action]].<ref>{{cite journal|ssrn=1967184|last=Bray |first=Samuel L. |year= 2012 |title=Announcing Remedies |journal=Cornell Law Review |volume=97}}</ref>

Under the RFPA, the FBI could obtain records with a [[national security letter]] (NSL) only if the FBI could first demonstrate the person was a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power. Compliance by the recipient of the NSL was voluntary, and states' [[consumer privacy]] laws often allowed financial institutions to decline the requests.<ref>Andrew E. Nieland, National Security Letters and the Amended Patriot Act, 92 ''[[Cornell L. Rev.]]'' 1201, 1207 (2007) [http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/research/cornell-law-review/upload/Nieland.pdf]</ref> In 1986, Congress amended RFPA to allow the government to compel disclosure of the requested information. The [[USA PATRIOT Act]] of 2001 amended the RFPA.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://epic.org/privacy/rfpa/ Retrieved|title=EPIC - the Right to Financial Privacy Act |website=epic.org |access-date=May 29, 2010}}</ref>