Research often requires using sensitive data to answer important questions. The ethical collection and analysis of personal information can be challenging to do while still protecting the privacy of the implicated individuals, honoring informed consent, and complying with other legal obligations. The technology, policies, and ethical considerations for researchers are constantly shifting, sometimes making it difficult to keep up. That’s why FPF engages stakeholders across academia and industry to produce recommendations, best practices, and ethical review structures that promote responsible research. Our work is centered around streamlining, encouraging, and promoting responsible research that respects essential privacy and ethical considerations throughout the research lifecycle. FPF works with policymakers to develop legislative protections that support effective, responsible research with strong privacy safeguards, including hosting events that allow policymakers and regulators to engage directly with practitioners from academia, advocacy, and industry.
NIST Calls Data Privacy "Achilles' Heel" of the Smart Grid
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today released the draft NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards. The draft highlights privacy as an issue that must be addressed as Smart Grid technologies continue to be implemented. Key points from the report include: “The major benefit provided by the Smart Grid, i.e. the ability to get […]
Behavioral Economics
Michael Sanserino’s column on behavioral economics in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal is a timely reminder about the benefits and the risks of new kinds of personal data uses. Take the Sacramento Municipal Utility District which since April 2008, according to Sanserino, has sent monthly notices to 35,000 customers showing how their usage compares with their […]
Study on the Business Case for Proactive Privacy Protection Ongoing in UK
The UK Information Commissioners’ Office recently announced that it has commissioned a three-month research project to support the business case for investing in proactive privacy protection. The discussion document will be available here on August 14, 2009, and there will an opportunity to provide feedback online. More details can be seen at this link. It […]
Huge news about your Social Security number!
Our friend Professor Alessandro Acquisti has published his paper showing how it is possible to predict social security numbers with a high degree of certainty, if your date of birth and location of birth are known. When Alessandro presented an early draft of his paper at the 2008 Privacy law Scholars Conference at GWU School […]
In Depth Review of Social Networks and Privacy
Thanks to Prof. Michael Zimmer for his post about this University of Cambridge in depth comparison and study of social network privacy controls and policies. Kudos to my former Bebo colleagues for being rated on top of the pack. Not sure I agree with the conclusion that sites are intentionally playing a sophisticated communications name […]
"Know Privacy" Report Contains Interesting Observations
“KnowPrivacy” is a collaborative research project by Class of 2009 graduates of the Masters program at the University of California Berkeley School of Information. FPF advisory board member Chris Hoofnagle helped advise the students. In the project, the students examined the common practices among website operators of collecting, sharing and analyzing data about their users, […]
Future of Privacy Forum Announces Research Initiative To Develop Effective Messages to Communicate with Users about Online Data Use
WASHINGTON, May 19, 2009 – Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) announced a major research initiative that will examine different methods for communicating with users about online advertising and privacy practices. The study will explore potential tools and notices that companies could use to raise consumer awareness regarding the use of online behavioral advertising […]
Harvard Engineering
Looks like a fabulous talk today at Harvard to be presented by our Advisory Board member Professor Annie Anton. Harvard CRCS » 2009 » March. Hope someone will be live blogging/twittering! CRCS Privacy and Security Lunch Seminar Date: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 Time: 12:00pm-1:30 pm Place: Maxwell Dworkin 119 Speaker: Annie Anton Title: Designing Software […]
The Future of Privacy Forum Consumer Privacy Agenda for the New Administration
1. Appoint a Chief Privacy Officer to Promote Fair Information Practices in the Public and Private Sectors. We embrace the idea of government catching up to industry by creating the central role of a Chief Technology Officer, as has been announced. But we also point out the need — recognized by hundreds of privacy-sensitive companies […]
Reality Mining
Two must reads in today’s New York Times: The first, a story by John Markoff, explores the advances in “reality mining”, a term coined to capture the risks and opportunities of data-mining a full range of data about users, from location, to shopping, to online. It is hard to read this article, without understanding the […]