Final answer:
Federal law prohibits organizations or companies from selling individuals' personal information without their express written consent, as outlined by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and other data protection regulations.
Step-by-step explanation:
By federal law, organizations or companies cannot sell individuals' personal information without their express written consent. State and federal laws in the United States protect personal cyber data and the privacy of such data. Notably, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) allows parents to have a say in what information websites collect about their children. As digital information storage expands, so too does the concern for privacy and the potential misuse of this data by businesses for marketing purposes without consent. Governments are striving to balance the protection of individual privacy with the need to regulate what they consider critical information that could affect community safety if mishandled.
Individuals express increasing concern about their data being collected without their permission, whether by businesses or the government. However, data protection laws aim to provide safeguards for personal information and apply restrictions on businesses regarding the exploitation of such information. Thus, selling personal information without explicit, express written consent is principally prohibited by federal law.