Are banks handing corporations your account info?

Krystlih writes: In an age where cash is becoming less and less used, and electronic payments such as credit or debit cards are becoming more and more prevelent I've stumbled across something that has me very concerned. Last year my grandmother wanted to have internet access in order to keep in touch with the family and me being the only computer guy in the family I set her up with an AOL dial up account because it fit her needs. I offered to pay for it and put in my account information on the account. I used a debit card that was linked to my checking account for the transaction. Later in the year my grandmother passed away. She happened to pass away a month prior to my debit card expiring. So instead of cancelling the AOL account I let it lapse figuring the account would be deactivated once my debit card would be denied. Come to find out when I was issued a new debit card somehow AOL got my new card information and continued to charge me the monthly fee. I contacted AOL complaining but nobody could answer how my information was obtained. Now this year I've had the same problem with Netflix, again I cancelled a card that was lost and I was expecting my Netflix account to expire. Nope, they got my most current card information somehow and updated my account. How is this legal? How can a company get debit/credit card information without your permission? I did some google searches and came up blank, does anyone know?