Task Force To Investigate Possible Customer Privacy Violations By Banks

A task force of state attorneys general are investigating possible privacy violations by Citigroup Inc., Bank One Corp., Wells Fargo Co., and U.S. Bancorp, according to a report the Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition. The question is whether the banks violated federal law restricting disclosure of confidential consumer information by providing customer information to telemarketers selling a variety of products and whether the banks mislead customers about such uses of their databases.