FTC Privacy Report Addresses Consumers, Businesses, and Policymakers
In a preliminary report released today the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recommends a “Do Not Track” option that gives consumers a say-so as to whether or not their online searching and browsing activities are collected as data for business. The 122-page report Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change argues for establishing a framework to balance the sanctity of consumer privacy with the needs of institutions whose innovations and growth depend on knowing what consumers are up to. It’s the kind of dilemma an all-powerful supercomputer might call “tricky.”
How do you protect consumers from non-scrupled businesses yet allow business access to information that allows for growth, fueling an economy that will ultimately benefit the consumer?
Not surprising is the FTC taking a stance on the issue that favors consumers over businesses. The Commission’s official announcement reminds the readers it is and has been “the nation’s chief privacy policy and enforcement agency for 40 years…” It’s not as if most people who are the least bit savvy about protecting their privacy don’t know how to click their browser settings into fortress mode— ""likely a persistent setting on consumers’ browsers.” Businesses have been dragging their feet when it comes to self-regulation and “have been too slow, and up to now have failed to provide adequate and meaningful protection.”
“Technological and business ingenuity have spawned a whole new online culture and vocabulary—e-mail, IMs, apps and blogs—that consumers have come to expect and enjoy,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. “The FTC wants to help ensure that the growing, changing, thriving information marketplace is built on a framework that promotes privacy, transparency, business innovation and consumer choice. We believe that’s what most Americans want as well.”
Liebowitz also emphasized that the FTC “will take action against companies that cross the line with consumer data and violate consumers’ privacy—especially when children and teens are involved.”
The hefty report boils down to being a document about easing consumer paranoia when it comes to browsing, taking the burden off the consumer and putting it more on business.
“Companies should adopt a ‘privacy by design’ approach by building privacy protections into their everyday business practices,” the report suggests.
Consumers should also be given a choice, and most certainly a heads-up early during a decision process, rather than having to click on links leading to highly ignorable, complicated technical agreements. It also points out that companies should not have to seek consumer agreement concerning commonly accepted practices.
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