Privacy Day Sparks Debate
To mark Data Privacy Day, the FTC, policymakers and some technology firms Thursday highlighted the importance of securing and protecting personal information in an increasingly connected world. The FTC is holding its second annual roundtable on privacy in Berkeley, Calif., Thursday. During a discussion on the privacy implications of social networking, officials from some of the leading social networking sites said they compete for users on the issue of privacy.
"We absolutely compete in this space," Google's Nicole Wong said in response to a question. She said Google competes by trying to develop the best products that also protect privacy. Tim Sparapani of Facebook added that his firm tries to distinguish itself on privacy because "that's how we will grow our user space." And LinkedIn's Erika Rottenberg noted that "if we were to breach the trust our users put in us ... people would pick up and go someplace else."
On Facebook's blog Thursday, data privacy officials from other countries and some U.S. lawmakers weighed in on the importance of the issue. "Our goal today is not to adjust the development and pace of our privacy to the digital society, but on the contrary it is to master digital technology to ensure that privacy can be both preserved and enhanced," French Data Privacy Commission Chairman Alex Türk wrote.
House Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton, R-Texas, chairman of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, urged industry players to "move forward quickly with strong consumer protections and the most clear and transparent policies that are technologically possible." And Energy and Commerce Committee member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., wrote that there have been "preliminary discussions about legislation to better protect Americans online privacy, but most members of the House and Senate need to know more about this issue." He encouraged users to contact their lawmakers about how privacy should be protected.
Meanwhile, several businesses this week highlighted efforts they are taking to protect consumer privacy. AT&T's Ellen Blackler noted in a blog post the work that the Future of Privacy Forum, whose advisory board AT&T serves on, has done to create a set of symbols and labels "that will be used to improve transparency around Internet advertising practices." The forum released a research study earlier this week that tested the effectiveness of this approach.
Blackler described the forum's work as an example "of the new approaches to transparency and control that can serve as the basis for the evolution to increasingly innovative ways to engage consumers directly." But the Center for Digital Democracy's Jeff Chester said such "efforts are trying to place a flimsy band-aid over a gushing consumer data privacy wound."
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