FTC to Dig Deeper on Privacy Issues
Back in August, the new head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission, David C. Vladeck, sent a strong message that the Commission continued to be troubled by the state of consumer privacy in the U.S. and the current enforcement model. At that time, Vladeck said, “The frameworks that we’ve been using historically for privacy are no longer sufficient.”
It is our understanding that the announcement yesterday by the FTC that it would be holding a series of “day-long public roundtable discussions to explore the privacy challenges posed by the vast array of 21st century technology and business practices that collect and use consumer data” is an outgrowth of those comments. The commission is apparently particularly interested in hearing about new ideas for privacy models. What would be a better model that the current focus on protecting against harm or deception? What could work better than privacy policies? How can the government or industry play a role is assuring the “dignity” of online citizens?
As many are probably aware, the first of these meetings will take place on December 7th in Washington. We look forward to the Commission’s additional exploration of these issues…