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| FTC Takes On Privacy as Industry Struggles to Respond |
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http://www.minonline.com/news/FTC-Takes-On-Privacy-as-Industry-Struggles-to-Respond_12921.html Steve Smith Monday, December 7, 2009 The Federal Trade Commission today opens a series ofroundtables on the increasingly contentious topic of consumer privacy in adigital age. As members of the industry, privacy advocates, and everyone'slawyers make their way to Washington D.C. to add their voices to theproceedings, the online publishing and advertising industries continue topromise but not quite deliver the self-regulatory controls the FTC demandedof them almost a year ago. When the FTC issued its first set of findingsabout the state of behavioral targeting earlier this year, the group offeredguidelines it hoped the industry would follow in policing itself. A groupof advertising associations, led by the Interactive Advertising Bureauclaimed last summer it would create a set of policies, a consumer educationcampaign and clear privacy labels for ads and Web sites. As the FTC convenesits meeting today, the IAB launches an ad campaign regarding online privacy anda Web site for consumers dubbed "Privacy Matters." http://www.iab.net/privacymatters/ At the same time The Center for Democracy and Technologylaunched a very different consumer-facing site, "Take Back YourPrivacy" which invites people to write their representative about the issue. http://www.cdt.org/takebackyourprivacy The site also offers a tool for reporting violations ofprivacy. A year after the FTC first weighed in on the issue, the Internetplayers involved do not seem to have gotten an inch closer to a credibleself-policing mechanism, let alone consensus on what needs to be done toprotect consumers. In advance of the roundtable, several of the panel participantsfrom consumer advocacy groups issued advance statements thatsuggest they will be calling for more direct regulation of the industry."It's time to recognize privacy as a fundamental human right and create a publicpolicy framework that requires that right to be respected," say SusanGrant, Director of Consumer Protection at Consumer Federation of America."Rather than stifling innovation, this will spur innovative ways to make themarketplace work better for consumers and businesses." Pam Dixon of theWorld Privacy Forum claims that attempts at self-regulation "have beenutterly ineffective to protect consumers. The sale of personal information is aroutine business model for many in corporate America. ." For their part, the components of the interactiveadvertising world continue to press the side of increased consumer education about theways data are collected on sites and making more visible opt out toolsthrough groups like the Network Advertising Initiative. Nevertheless, it will behard for the industry to cite its efforts at self-regulation when all ithas to show is a new public service ad campaign and a Web site. There hadbeen plans for wide adoption of privacy principles among advertisers andpublishers as well as large labeling at sites and on ads that led to opt-out andeducational materials. Those pieces of this self-policing project arestill being tested we are told. <| Powered by www.ISPIClips.com |> But is the IAB effort too little too late? There is growinginterest among legislators on a state and federal level to enact lawsgoverning online data collection. The new FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz, who willopen today's conference, had a long history of pressing for greaterprivacy control before President Obama appointed him Chair earlier thisyear, so many in the industry expect even greater pressure or eventual regulationto come from the agency. A live Webcast of the event will be available atthe FTC site. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/privacyroundtables/index.shtml |