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 of Law last year, he had the audience floored. Now that he has released it, the implications for any company or agency still using Social Security numbers and a user ID or a password are significant. This is big news!
July 2, 2009 – New BT Principles May Not Go Far Enough To Stop Regulation, MediaPost News
Full IAB-DMA-AAAA-ANA Behavioral Advertising Agreement Documents
The principles agreed to by the trade groups are available here.
The entire industry reaching agreement on the need to get more information to users beyond the limits of a privacy policy is a significant advance. But to ensure that this will be a true step forward for consumers, companies will need to consider these rules a starting point and not a finish line and they need to ensure that the required notice is a meaningful communication clearly advising consumers that their web experience is being tailored for them. The credibility of this effort will be determined by whether this notice is only a barely visible disclaimer or whether it is really a good faith effort to educate users about a key feature. We look forward to providing input based on the results of research we have underway and to working cooperatively to make this effort a success.
There are some issues we think need to be addressed by the trade groups or by the enforcement and monitoring groups that will be involved. These would include the following: Further expand the definitions of sensitive data to cover clickstream profiles based on searches for sexual terms or for sensitive diseases, ensure that activities like re-targeting are expressly included, establish specific data retention limits for web surfing profiles and include requirements to show users their profiles. We will have a more detailed assessment of additional items needed in a report we provide on Thursday.
We also urge the browser companies to support the industry efforts by making advances on fixing the current unstable opt-out cookie process.
We have also participated in detailed discussions with TRUSTe about their plans for a behavioral advertising program and look forward to their efforts in this area.
Overall, this is a very significant step towards bringing data use out of the shadows. Getting the entire set of actors in the advertising ecosystem pulling in the direction of more consumer control could be an important turning point towards improved privacy practices.
New Facebook Privacy Changes
Click on the below presentation to have a good look at the new Facebook privacy changes. Generally positive, in that Facebook will put all the privacy settings in one place and eliminate regional networks. So many users thought their profiles were open only to friends, but were in a regional network where default settings left items like photos open to all 10 million people in the region. I also like that users will be able to decide who should see items at the time they publish or share them.
Note, however, that the new defaults make more information in new profiles public by default, and ask current users to update their settings to make some basic information public – such as your hometown, religion, marital status etc. Facebook explains that this is to help users better find each other. I get that, because the other day I was looking through 25 profiles of someone with a common name and couldnt figure out which was my old pal. (Pics were of dogs, kids, mountains or no pic!….hometown and religion would have been a good clue!). I am pleased that they do not make birth date public in the new flow, that would surely annoy some of my friends and family who are touchy about their age. One piece of advice for users – hide your hometown, too many companies use it as your security question.
“They are learning how to listen carefully to their users,” said Jules Polonetsky, co-chairman and director of the Washington-based Future of Privacy Forum and former chief privacy officer at AOL. He added that Facebook has learned from the past that suddenly making big changes, whatever they are, has not been the most effective approach.
“To be lots of things to lots of different kinds of people,” Polonetsky said, Facebook needs to give its users, who come from different cultures, age groups and career levels, more control over what they share on the site.
PFF Congressional Seminar: Regulating Online Advertising: What Will it Mean for Consumers, Culture & Journalism? – July 10, 2009
Progress & Freedom Foundation
Congressional Seminar
Regulating Online Advertising: What Will it Mean for Consumers, Culture & Journalism?
July 10, 2009
12:00pm to 2:00pm
Capitol Visitor Center
Room SVC-208
1st Street and East Capitol Street, NE
Washington DC, 20002
Proposals to regulate advertising and data collection on the Internet, mobile phones and other interactive television, hold the promise of enhancing consumer privacy. On the other hand, “smart advertising” allows more relevant advertising to be targeted directly to individual consumers, making markets more competitive, significantly increasing the funding available for creating free content and services, and increasing the effectiveness of all forms of free speech. So what would regulation cost consumers, and how will it impact journalism and other non-commercial content, which stands to gain the most from better targeting? What First Amendment questions would regulation raise about the future of culture and political disclosure? These and other pressing questions will be discussed at “Regulating Online Advertising: What Will it Mean for Consumers, Culture & Journalism?,” a congressional seminar hosted by The Progress & Freedom Foundation.
Speakers:
Berin Szoka (Moderator), Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Internet Freedom, The Progress & Freedom Foundation
Howard Beales, Associate Professor, Department of Strategic Management and Public Policy, The George Washington University
Thomas Lenard, President & Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
Jules Polonetsky, Co-Chair & Director, Future of Privacy Forum
Mark Adams, Visiting Fellow, The Progress & Freedom Foundation
A Posterboy for Advertising’s Pro-Consumer Quid Pro Quo | The Technology Liberation Front
I enjoy reading the Tech Liberation Front blog, even though I am far less sure that the “privacy” free market is working as well as the TLF bloggers contend. But the writers are often witty, sharp and entertaining and are deeply immersed in privacy issues. It has been nice getting to know Berin Szoka, TLF blogger and Progress and Freedom Foundation fellow, and I look forward to some spirited sparring with him at next weeks Capitol Hill PFF event Regulating Online Advertising.
Berin recently blogged about a favorite DC yogurt shop, Mr Yogato’s, which gives patrons a discount if they allow a promotional “stamp” on their foreheads. He makes the point that there is “no free lunch” and that online the trade consumers make for free content is that they are shown advertising.
Berin is correct, of course, there is no free lunch. Online, data supported advertising is part of the trade-off for free content. But to use the Mr Yogato analogy, here is what is happening online – consumers are having a cookie ID number quietly stamped on the back on their necks, aren’t told about any discount for their yogurt purchase, and then policymakers are told that all is fair because yogurt shops would go out of business if they couldn’t earn revenue by tracking or marketing to users in this manner.
I think much of the consumer and legislative concern about tracking would dissipate if more online companies would be as upfront with their customers as Mr. Yogato is with his. Some of us are happy to have our forehead stamped, some prefer to answer trivia questions and others will pay full fare.
Would you allow your forehead to be stamped in return for a discount? My wife says she would, but I am still thinking about it.
Before you click
How To Filter Out Facebook "Friends" Without Them Knowing
This is a very useful and humane way to manage your friends on facebook! Too much noise and missing out on the info from the friends you want to “hear” from”?
The Future of Privacy Forum is seeking two legal, policy or technology fellows to join our think tank. You will be involved with leading edge work at the center of the privacy debates and will work on issues ranging from behavioral advertising and social media issues to the smart grid and identity management. Small stipend available. Ideal for a law grad deferring the start of law firm job. Significant responsibility on day one and a great opportunity to interact with senior figures in academia, government, corporations, advocacy groups and law firms. We can offer a flexible location and schedule, but need someone ready to meet deadlines and be able to react rapidly to new issues and opportunities.
Please see fpf.org for more information about us. Email [email protected] with your resume and a letter of interest to apply.
