Privacy legal fights should focus on intrusion, not hurt feelings

Please see FPF Advisory Board member Neil M. Richards in “Privacy legal fights should focus on intrusion, not hurt feelings”, an article from Washington University in St. Louis Newsroom by Jessica Martin. Richards discusses how American privacy law was created in the 19th and 20th centuries and is an inadequate guide for 21st century privacy battles. Richards, JD, is a privacy law expert and professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.

For the full article, click here.

Privacy Legislation Low on Legislators' List of Priorities

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) participated in the State of the Net West conference on Tuesday of this week where she said prospects were bleak for any privacy legislation to make it through Congress this year. Even though online privacy tops Eshoo’s list of technological priorities, she believes it lands differently on Congress’ list. With debates centering on the national economy, jobs and the European economy, legislators most likely will not have the time to rewrite privacy legislation. However, the congresswoman did say she wants companies working to adopt transparent privacy policies that are user-friendly, including policies that protect children.

For the full article on the conference from Palo Alto Online, click here.

GSMA Research Shows Mobile Users Rank Privacy an Important Concern

An extensive GSMA study of over 4,000 mobile phone users in Singapore, Spain, and the UK reveals that most users are concerned about sharing personal information when using mobile applications and Internet. Privacy concerns were shown to hinder user interaction with such apps and services, but research also illustrates the significant value users place this technology. Key areas of concern are location based services (LBS), online behavioral advertising, and mobile app and third party sharing of data.

With mobile apps, 92% of users expressed concern about apps collecting and sharing information without consent. 79% want to know when and what type of information is being collected.

“The research shows that to realise the full potential of mobile Internet services, it is imperative that ways are found to strengthen consumer confidence and trust by giving users meaningful transparency, choice and control over how their personal information is used,” said Tom Phillips, chief regulatory officer, GSMA. “The GSMA is committed to working with stakeholders from across the whole mobile ecosystem to help establish effective and consistent privacy experiences for mobile users, and to ensure that privacy is a key consideration of all mobile services.”

FPF also has an upcoming study in the area of mobile user expectation as part of our Design for Trust project, an effort let by design firm CreativeContext and supported by Yahoo, Visa and others. We look forward to sharing details soon.Read more about the GSMA study here.

MMA & FPF Talk Mobile Privacy Fundamentals

Future of Privacy Forum Co-chairs Jules Polonetsky and Chris Wolf presented today along with other industry leaders at the Mobile Marketing Association Webinar: Privacy Fundamentals for Mobile–What You Need to Know To Successfully Navigate the Landscape. Chris Wolf discussed the risks associated with poor mobile privacy practices such as the WSJ’s “What They Know” series that has served as a roadmap for congressional hearings. Fran Maier, President and Executive Chair of TRUSTe reported survey results revealing that 85% of users are interested in being able to make choices regarding targeted mobile ads. Jules Polonetsky affirmed these findings and stressed the importance of providing users with privacy controls such as a user-friendly opt-in or opt-out choice on their mobile devices. Among the topics discussed were concerns with collection and use of precise location data for behavioral advertising, children’s privacy, and media and advocate concerns around the use of device identifiers for tracking. If you have any mobile privacy questions, feel free to comment below or email us at [email protected].

Sept. 22, 2011 – The Online Trust Alliance Announces "Why Your Browser Matters" in Support of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Market Watch

Gaithersburg, MD – September 22, 2011 – NIST Cybersecurity Education Workshop – The Online Trust Alliance (OTA) today announced “Why Your Browser Matters,” a framework for websites to create “teachable moments” for site visitors, raising awareness of the security, privacy, and performance risks of using outdated browsers.  According to comScore data and OTA research, over 40% of users worldwide are using outdated browsers, and fail to realize the advantages of upgrading.https://otalliance.org/news/releases/WhyYourBrowserMatters.html

What Issue Should Be First?

The Department of Commerce may seek to advance multi-stakeholder processes to create enforceable privacy codes of conduct. What topics should the first privacy codes of conduct resulting from the Commerce multi-stakeholder process address?
Please take our survey titled “Department of Commerce and Privacy Codes of Conduct”. Your feedback is important!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LCX8T8

Europe taking much stricter stance on do-not-track rules

Europe’s privacy regulators are advancing toward adopting much stricter do-not-track rules than what the U.S. online advertising industry prefers.

To read the full article and see FPF’s Chris Wolf’s quotes, please click here.

Upcoming EU Cloud Strategy Announced: Application of Local Privacy Laws Remain an Issue, To Be Explored at IAPP Navigate on September 14

FPF is pleased to be a co-sponsor and presenter at the IAPP Navigate program on September 14th in Dallas, at which both FPF co-chairs Jules Polonetsky and Chris Wolf will present.  Here is a blog entry on the issue of privacy in the cloud and whose law applies, which also describes one session at IAPP Navigate:

http://www.hldataprotection.com/2011/09/articles/international-eu-privacy/upcoming-eu-cloud-strategy-announced-application-of-local-privacy-laws-remain-an-issue-to-be-explored-at-iapp-navigate-on-september-14/index.html

To see both of the Themes where FPF co-chairs Jules Polonetsky and Chris Wolf will be moderating, please click here.

Privacy Papers for Policy Makers 2011

Future of Privacy Forum is pleased to share the second annual “Privacy Papers for Policy Makers,” showcasing leading analytical thinking about current and emerging privacy issues.

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FPF Releases Newest Edition of Privacy Papers for Policy Makers

The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) released the newest edition of its Privacy Papers for Policy Makers. To see the full text of the papers and the executive summaries of the writings visit http://fpf.org/the-privacy-papers/ .