September 21 – 23: Gridwise Global Forum
Gridwise Global Forum in Washington, D.C.
Gridwise Global Forum in Washington, D.C.
Online Trust and Cybersecurity Forum in Washington, D.C.
IAPP Privacy Academy in Baltimore, MD
The Future of Privacy Forum is proud to be a sponsor of Tech Policy Central’s new pii2010 conference, which takes place August 17 – 19 in Seattle, WA.
pii2010 (privacy identity innovation) will explore how emerging technologies and business models are impacting data creation, sharing and aggregation, and how to strike a balance between protecting sensitive information and enabling innovation. Hosted by CBS News technology analyst Larry Magid, the conference will bring together key stakeholders from the technology, legal, academic, nonprofit and government communities to talk about the latest developments and where innovation is heading.
Chris will be speaking at pii2010, along with more than 30 leading experts including:
In addition, pii2010 will serve as the official launch pad for pii Labs, an open forum for learning about and collaborating on new projects that will take place on August 19 inside Seattle’s famous Space Needle building. Other special activities at the conference include a screening of the British documentary “Erasing David,” featuring the film’s director and namesake David Bond, and a startup “Pitch Slam” where eight promising entrepreneurs will deliver their best 5-minute pitch.
Visit http://pii2010.com for more info and to sign up. You can also follow pii2010 on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pii2010.
As privacy enthusiasts eagerly await this afternoon’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing on consumer online privacy, FPF Co-Chairs Jules Polonetsky and Christopher Wolf, provided some thoughts to Huffington Post about how the business community can help address some of the concerns that have been escalating in this arena.
Click this link to see their piece, “Solving the Privacy Dilemma.”
Yesterday Illinois Congressman Bobby Rush, Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection introduced H.R. 5777 the “Building Effective Strategies To Promote Responsibility Accountability Choice Transparency Innovation Consumer Expectations and Safeguards Act”, or BEST PRACTICES Act of 2010. The bill adds to the contentious privacy debate that came with the much-anticipated Boucher-Stearns privacy legislation circulated in draft form earlier this year, and which is still in draft form.
While the just-introduced bill shares similarities with the draft Boucher legislation, the 55-page bill proposes to levy fines of up to $5 million on businesses and individuals unless they abide by a regulations to be administrated by the Federal Trade Commission. There is an exemption for small businesses, but entities (and even individuals) that hold 15,000 or more names, e-mail addresses, or other personal information in their records will be subject to the proposed law.
Some additional points that differentiate it from the Boucher-Stearns draft bill also include:
– A broader safe-harbor rule, which is essentially tossed to the FTC to detail the rule-making;
– A broader definition of sensitive data;
– A broader definition of third parties (i.e. a company’s different brands could be third party if a consumer wouldn’t associate them together);
– IP addresses are not covered, unless linked to a profile used for analysis or tracking;
– A wider exemption for operational needs;
– A private right of action is included.
Congressman Rush has scheduled an initial hearing on the bill for this Thursday at 2 PM EDT, which will be an important continuation of the ongoing discussion of what legal protections may be needed. Our prediction is that the bill is not likely to near passage this year, given the limited legislative time available, but it serves to further the discussion about some very important issues in this space. The Future of Privacy Forum looks forward to further analysis and discussion of the bill in the days ahead.
