On Several Fronts, US Gov't Prepares To Regulate Online Privacy 123
storagedude writes "There are at least five US government efforts underway to regulate data and online privacy, according to a new US government internet policy official, who sees some kind of privacy regulation as likely. Ari Schwartz, who left the Center for Democracy and Technology two months ago to become senior internet policy advisor at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, says issues like Facebook's never-ending privacy concerns are making some kind of a national law or regulation more and more likely. He thinks segregating identity from data isn't enough; the data must then be aggregated after identity is stripped out. He also called for objective measures of privacy compliance."
Re:And one by one... (Score:3, Interesting)
And one by one all the bills will die on the floor as the campaign money comes rolling in.
One will stand. The one that ends up with language that protects corps which invade people's privacy.
Don't worry (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe Facebook's, sure, but rest assured that the government won't limit their own ability to spy on you
Re:Stand by... (Score:5, Interesting)
That sounds a little bit sarcastic.
It may not be a step towards government dictatorship, but it is a step towards an environment where an oppressive government could germinate rather quickly. Or did you mean government dictatorship in the context of regulations and Big Government?
My first thought was that this is like having the fox guard the hen house. Considering how far the government has gone in the last 20 years to eliminate our rights to privacy, anonymity, and free communications in general I find it rather curious they are stepping up to protect us from Mr. Zuckerburg and evil Google.
They are the least of my worries. After all, I am not forced to deal with them.
While the government starts to create regulations that affect companies like Facebook and Google, I wonder why we so quickly forget its intentions to secure access to all encrypted voice communications? That development was quite recent, but let's forget that and talk about how people can see what I am doing with my chickens in Farmville. That is far more important right?
B-M-W (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't want to hamstring American businesses while the industry is still in its infancy.
Just exactly what business is it that you believe might be 'hamstrung' by any legislation that might protect my privacy, and what good would such business possibly serve if it trades on my right to said privacy? Why should I care about any business person that might seek to trade on my personal information... WAIT THAT'S IT!!
All that would be REQUIRED in such legislation is that every online business that tracks it's user's data, habits, behavior or the like, include the details of it's intent, methods, data and a list of all its customers for such information and make it easily available to all it's users. 'They' (the company) would be required to list all the attributes of their collection practices in 'their' OPT-ON PRIVACY STATEMENT, prior to collection or distribution of any such information. And every time these attributes changed, the legislation would require yet another OPT-IN consent be registered along with access to the privacy opt-in consent history for each user. Which, of course, would be available online to each user with an account.
That wouldn't be too burdensome, since it could all be collected and maintained automagically, in a separate database.
Muhahahahaha!! (Like that would ever happen!) B-)
-- B-M-W is meant to represent, "Bitch, Moan, Whine." Do I sound sympathetic to the likes of FacistBook, yet?
Re:Don't worry (Score:3, Interesting)