Ashley's Corner

trackinganation:

Online privacy Bill of Rights legislation is once again at the top of Congress’ agenda - thanks to the avalanche of privacy concerns over the last year.

The most recent cause of concern is, of course, Google, who had a double whammy: 1) announcement of its single privacy policy that will track your data across all its products 2) circumventing privacy protections on Safari and mobile devices (Score for Stanford’s Jonathan Mayer). WHAM! In fact, Google’s actions prompted 36 attorneys general to write a letter of concern, calling Google’s new privacy policy “troubling.”

While we can go on and on about who’s fretting and who’s filing injunctions and lawsuits, let’s skip over back to this online privacy bill, which the White House pushed out in the wake of the hoopla.

According to President Obama, “American consumers can’t wait any longer for clear rules of the road that ensure their personal information is safe online. As the Internet evolves, consumer trust is essential for the continued growth of the digital economy. That’s why an online privacy Bill of Rights is so important.”

With the Consumer Privacy Bill, as detailed here, the White House asks for the following rights:

• Individual Control:  Consumers have a right to exercise control over what personal data organizations collect from them and how they use it.
• Transparency:  Consumers have a right to easily understandable information about privacy and security practices.
• Respect for Context:  Consumers have a right to expect that organizations will collect, use, and disclose personal data in ways that are consistent with the context in which consumers provide the data.
• Security:  Consumers have a right to secure and responsible handling of personal data.
• Access and Accuracy:  Consumers have a right to access and correct personal data in usable formats, in a manner that is appropriate to the sensitivity of the data and the risk of adverse consequences to consumers if the data are inaccurate.
• Focused Collection:  Consumers have a right to reasonable limits on the personal data that companies collect and retain.
• Accountability:  Consumers have a right to have personal data handled by companies with appropriate measures in place to assure they adhere to the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.

Last year, similar legislation was introduced by Senators John Kerry and John McCain called the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights.