Obama administration releases privacy ‘bill of rights’

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama released a “bill of rights” last week outlining key privacy rights for consumers in the digital economy. At the request of the White House, the U.S. Commerce Department will meet with companies, privacy and consumer advocates, technical experts, international partners, and academics to establish practices or codes of conduct to implement a set of general principles, a release said. The Obama Administration will also work with Congress to develop legislation based on the rights and to extend “baseline privacy protections” to commercial sectors that existing federal privacy laws do not cover, the White House said. The rights include “individual control,” in which consumers have a right to control their personal data; “transparency,” covering the right to understand privacy and security practices; “security,” or the right to the “secure and responsible” handling of personal information; “access and accuracy,” in which consumers have a right to access and correct the use of personal data; “focused collection,” or the right to “reasonable limits” on the collection and retention of information; and “accountability,” or the right to have measures in place to ensure the handling of personal data conforms to accepted standards. The White House said leading Internet companies and online advertising networks have also committed to the use of “do not track” options on web browsers so that users can turn off online tracking. “Companies that represent the delivery of nearly 90 percent of online behavioral advertisements, including Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and AOL have agreed to comply when consumers choose to control online tracking,” the release said. The companies making the commitment will be subject to Federal Trade Commission enforcement, the White House added.

Obama administration releases privacy ‘bill of rights’

Brief | February 27, 2012

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