Each year, approximately 15 million U.S. residents see their identities and information used fraudulently. In addition to the use of their identity, they also suffered an overall financial loss of nearly $50 billion. Large companies such as Apple, Verizon, Target, Sony, and many others have been victims of consumer information hacking. In each case, millions of consumers' personal information was breached. In the September 18, 2014 article “56 Million Cards Hacked at Home Depot Larger Than Target,” 56 million cards were hacked due to cyberattacks. Before the Home Depot attack, Target had hacked 40 million cards. Company information is constantly hacked and consumers are the ones who end up having to pay the price. If a company can't protect the information it acquires, it shouldn't collect it. The issue of invasion of privacy concerns the legal environment of businesses because every business and company holds information about its employees, customers, suppliers and other interested parties. In addition to all the information stored about other people, most companies also keep all their business information on computers and files. If a breach were to occur at a company, all the information stored in their systems could be stolen and sold to others. There would be serious identity theft, Social Security fraud, and even financial loss. Today, security breaches have become a significant risk for most businesses. Security breaches can disrupt business operations, damage brand reputation and customer relationships, and attract government investigations and class action lawsuits. The current problem is that companies aren't doing enough to protect their consumers... middle of paper... ...entity. The FTC requires the company to submit an annual filing to the FTC and pay $200,000 as part of the settlement. People value their privacy as much as they value almost anything else. If people believe their information is at risk, they want to know that action will be taken to ensure they receive compensation. The FTC has made sure that if companies promise to protect your information, they will, but that still isn't enough. The FTC addresses privacy issues at the corporate level, but we need greater privacy protection at the consumer level. Like the Uniform Commercial Code, we need a uniform set of rules for businesses to follow to ensure consumer protection in a business-oriented world. We need federal privacy protections so that everyone in the United States has the same online privacy rights and protections.