Focus of Innovation, Policy in Online Privacy Protection Should Be Consumers, Commerce Committee Says
There’s a duty to ask whether the average Internet user fully understands “what information is being collected about them and whether or not they are empowered to stop certain practices from taking place,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chair of the Senate Commerce Committee during its first hearing on online privacy.
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The FCC took action against 300 companies that failed to certify compliance with privacy rules, Chairman Julius Genachowski said during testimony. “When consumers fear that privacy is at risk they are less likely to use new communications technology and services.” He also noted the FCC’s role in a joint task force with the FTC aimed at protecting online privacy and transparency rights, and the FCC’s launch Tuesday of an online consumer help center.
The FTC hosted workshops, issued reports and hosted consumer roundtables, Chairman Jon Leibowitz said: Consumers “do not understand the extent to which companies are collecting, using, aggregating, storing and sharing their personal information.” The FTC also is looking to simplify choices in privacy protection for customers, he said. “It could be useful to have some consistency in the way the choices are presented so that consumers aren’t constantly bombarded” with consent messages. “Some privacy policies are pretty good,” but the agencies must determine “what should be the rules of the road going forward?” he said. Genachowski and Leibowitz agreed that their agencies should work jointly and share leadership roles rather than assign one agency to take the lead, they said.
Apple offers tools “that allow our customers to control the collection and use of location-based services data on all of our devices,” said Guy Tribble, software technology vice president. Last month, Apple updated its privacy policy and “provides its customers with tools to control if and when location-based informations is collected from them,” Tribble said in written testimony. Customers may also turn location tracking tools off and on, he said.
"Everyone at Facebook works on privacy issues,” said Chief Technology Officer Bret Taylor. “During every aspect of a product’s design, privacy is discussed.” When users access their privacy page and change settings, the changes apply to everything users have previously shared, he said.