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Readers know we support  responsible beacon technology practices. Today’s story illustrates how airports can provide real-time updates about travel plans, accommodations, and flights to travelers …

At today’s FCBA brown bag lunch, FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc discussed the Commission’s recent entrance into privacy enforcement and fielded questions as to what companies might do to avoid running afoul of the Enforcement Bureau. LeBlanc emphasized the innovation continues to outpace regulators, noting that much of the Commission’s investigative and enforcement work […]

Barclays just launched a beacon technology system in a UK branch to help disabled customers with their accessibility needs. The service, which requires customers to download an app and …

The following is a guest post by Scott D. Goss, Senior Privacy Counsel, Qualcomm Incorporated, addressing the recent “Right to be Forgotten” decision by the European Court of Justice. There has been quite a bit of discussion surrounding the European Court of Justice’s judgment in Google Spain LS, Google Inc. v. Agencia Espanola de Proteccion de […]

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal published an article about long lines at U.S. customs in airports around the country, and what airlines are doing to shorten them. They include a spreadsheet where you can see the kind information that’s been collected thanks to Mobile Location Analytics (“MLA”) technology. This is just one example of […]

Late last fall we posted about Attorney General Schneiderman’s troubling attempts to subpoena data on 15,000 New York City-based users of Airbnb, the service best known for allowing people to rent out their spare bedrooms or their homes while on vacation. Schneiderman was trying to find landlords who were renting their apartments out long-term through […]

Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission posted FPF’s comments about “anonymization” and “deidentification.”  The comments come in response to a request from Public Knowledge that the FCC clarify whether “anonymized” or “deidentified” but non-aggregate call records constitute individually identifiable “customer proprietary network information” under Section 222 of the Communications Act. FPF submitted  comments to address the argument that […]

Yesterday, MediaPost reported a study by IDC that provided an interesting insight on how smartphone users value their privacy in retail environments. According to MediaPost: “Smartphone owners were asked which was more important: retailers respecting their privacy or retailers presenting them with relevant offers. The results were essentially split, with slightly more than half (53%) […]

Reuters today published an article discussing the ways in which brick-and-mortar retailers are using increasingly sophisticated technology to “catch up” to online retail. Along with the benefits — more efficient stores, targeted discounts — the article raises privacy concerns about the tracking of customer behavior in the offline world. We think, when it comes to […]

In a post for the MIT Sloan Management Review, Renee Boucher Ferguson considers the privacy costs involved with the use of data analytics to transform customer service.  The capability of projects such as IBM’s Watson to “to determine consumer wants and desires, even (sometimes!) before customers themselves do so” requires a new approach to privacy, […]