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Consumer Privacy Bill Of Rights

February 23, 2012 by · Comments Off on Consumer Privacy Bill Of Rights 

Consumer Privacy Bill Of Rights, The White House is making a big deal over its introduction of a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights concerning corporation’s use of personal data. Unlike Europe, where there are a bunch of privacy protection laws, the US has gotten by without such laws for the most part.

 I can certainly understand the desire for a bill of rights like this — and like many, I’m creeped out about how some sites make use of my data (especially in that uncanny valley of targeted advertising) — but I’m not so creeped out that I think a law is the answer. In fact, a few things about this plan leave me concerned.

Privacy rights is one of those things that seems like a good idea, but seems very difficult to actually implement effectively, without either stifling useful services that really aren’t creepy or troublesome, or just creating a set of plans so meaningless as to be a waste of time. For example, we’ve long argued that privacy policies are pointless, but these days for many sites, it’s required that you have one.

This is one of those ideas that sounds good: of course a site should have a privacy policy! Except… no one reads these privacy policies, and most people (incorrectly) assume that if a site has a privacy policy, it means their information is private. But that’s not necessarily the case. You could have a “privacy policy” that says “we widely share all your info and we mock you at the same time!” and as long as the company does just that, it’s likely still a legit privacy policy.

Consumper Privacy Bill Of Rights

February 23, 2012 by · Comments Off on Consumper Privacy Bill Of Rights 

Consumper Privacy Bill Of Rights, One month and three days after Consumer Watchdog called President Obama to endorse “Do Not Track” and online privacy legislation during his State of the Union address, the President has proposed a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. The White House has called upon Congress to pass legislation that will allow the FTC Federal Trade Commission as well as state attorney generals to support and enforce the framework of this bill. This bill will act as a guard for consumers rights, allowing consumers to say when, if, and how their personal information is both collected and used online.

This bill will also require businesses to be as transparent as possible about their data use practices as well, pushing businesses to further assure consumers that they’ve either not used their data at all or, if they have, that it’s appropriately secured. According to Justin Brookman speaking with Information Week, the director for the non-profit civil liberties group Center for Democracy and Technology’s Project on Consumer Privacy, the White House has been working on a bill – or a collection of laws that’s now become this bill – for quite some time now:

“They’ve been working on this for a couple of years now. The biggest change is that they recognize that there should be legislation to make this happen, and that was our main criticism of the proposal before–that there may not be enough stick to get industry to the table without a law to make them follow certain rules.” – Brookman

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