FTC Increasing Focus on Deidentification, In-Store Mobile Tracking, Ramirez Says
Look for the FTC to expand its data deidentification and mobile tracking technology research, said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez during a Q&A at an International Association of Privacy Professionals conference Thursday. Ramirez didn’t reveal specific data deidentification research efforts but said the commission wants “to take advantage of” recently appointed Chief Technologist Latanya Sweeney, and that those interested should “stay tuned.” Ramirez also revealed the commission would be following up its in-store mobile tracking workshop with a report. “We do plan to issue a report, so that will be forthcoming,” she said. As for the FTC’s long-anticipated data-broker study -- in the works since late 2012 -- Ramirez said she hopes it “will be coming out soon."
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Sweeney is well-regarded by privacy advocates -- Center for Digital Democracy Executive Director Jeff Chester called hiring her a “home run” -- because of her research in data anonymization as the head of Harvard University’s Data Privacy Lab. She has repeatedly pushed back against the notion that anonymizing data prevents companies from pulling out sensitive personal information about individuals, most recently at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology workshop, held as part of the White House’s big data review (CD March 4 p7).
Sweeney “has done a tremendous amount of work in this area and has highlighted the limits of deidentified data,” Ramirez said. “One of the issues I like to have her work on and address is how can we make deidentified data more robust so it can be used effectively as a way to mitigate and address some of the privacy challenges.” Sweeney launched a Tech@FTC blog in January (http://1.usa.gov/1g3z8b2) and Thursday posted a missive on mobile app interaction and in-app purchases (http://1.usa.gov/1g3c8ZQ). But Sweeney has yet to address data anonymization in depth using that forum.
Ramirez refused to tip her hand about any planned report on deidentification. “It’s still an issue we're examining so I can’t promise anything,” she said. But she said the issue is a “fruitful avenue that ought to be pursued further."
Ramirez did confirm the FTC will issue a report on in-store mobile device tracking, without giving a timeline. The report will be “going into the topic more deeply” than the recently held workshop on the issue, which focused on how retailers analyzed data about in-store customers gathered through tracking the unique identifiers of mobile devices. “It appears retailers tend to look at this data in a manner that’s aggregated,” Ramirez said. “So they don’t know that device X, Y or Z moved along this path.”
Instead, companies are looking at how many customers total walked a certain path or lingered over a product, Ramirez said. That form of analysis, “in that deidentified way, we don’t have any problem with,” said Ramirez. But it all hinges on anonymization, she said. “At the same time, it’s important that the deidentification take place.”