Privacy Issues

What are some states and/or the Federal government doing to ensure privacy of your computerized records? (California is the state with the toughest laws).
What are some issues dealing with privacy and who has control of your data (hint: think of issues with data sharing, like grocery stores selling your information to credit card or insurance companies).
Pick another country (or area of the world like EU) and analyze how it handles computer privacy factors differently than the US.