Legal News

Obama to Push ?Privacy Bill of Rights?

By Ashby Jones

They want to know about you.

They want your age, your likes, your hates, your fears. They want to know what you watch on television, what websites you spend the most time on, what magazines you reach for in the dentist’s office, what product you almost buy every time you open Sky Mall. (Does anybody ever buy anything through Sky Mall?)

Who is this nefarious “they”? Of course, it’s data-gatherers, who make livings selling your data to corporate America.

Do we need legislation to protect us from these looky-loos? The Obama administration thinks so. On Wednesday, it plans to ask Congress to pass a “privacy bill of rights” to protect Americans from intrusive data gathering, amid growing concern primarily about the tracking and targeting of Internet users. Click here for the WSJ story, by Jennifer Valentino-Devries and Emily Steel.

The administration will back a law that follows the outlines of a report issued by the Commerce Department in December. Among other things, the December report suggested that companies should ask an individual’s permission to use personal data for a purpose other than for which it was collected. The administration also eventually could propose that consumers be given the right to access information about themselves and to have the information stored securely, the person said.

The administration’s plan to push for legislation reflects a shifting attitude by the government, which for more than a decade favored a hands-off approach to the Internet. Officials have said the increasing intrusiveness of online tracking has forced them to reassess that approach.

In December, the FTC called for development of a “do not track” system that would let Internet users avoid having their online activity monitored. And the makers of the two most-popular Web browsers-Microsoft Corp. and Mozilla Corp.-have said they are incorporating do-not-track features in current or future products.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 16, 2011 (boomark / email).