The FTC’s proposed online privacy recommendations are too weak to protect consumers and they need fundamental revision, two consumer groups said in written comments Friday. Another group criticized the FTC’s failure to run a cost-benefit analysis of the proposals. The agency made its recommendations in a 122-page policy draft released Dec. 1 (WID Dec 2 p1). It proposed a framework including the addition of a permanent “Do Not Track” mechanism on browsers allowing consumers to opt out of tracking by third parties, and the creation of a privacy office at the Department of Commerce. The FTC is accepting written comments until Jan. 31 on its privacy recommendations.

The U.S. government is making Comcast fulfill several web conditions to complete its purchase of control in NBC Universal from General Electric and form a new joint venture with GE. The FCC and Justice Department said they're barring the cable operator, in its role as an ISP, from discriminating against competing content. A condition from the commission that some see as a form of net neutrality (WID Jan 12 p4) prohibits Comcast from giving priority on its broadband network to its programming over competitors’, FCC officials said.

The FTC unveiled a preliminary privacy report Wednesday recommending that industry adopt and Congress mandate a simplified method for opting out of information collection. The report does not establish new FTC authority for enforcing privacy but recommends congressional action if companies don’t follow its provisions, commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz said on a conference call. The FTC will accept public comments on the 122-page policy draft until Jan. 31 before issuing its final recommendations in the middle of 2011, Leibowitz said.

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., will target the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) for a major update in 2011 because the law hasn’t kept pace with technological change, his office told us Friday. The law’s definitions are broad enough to cover technology that has emerged since the law passed in 1998, said the Center for Democracy & Technology.

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., will target the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) for a major update in 2011 because the law hasn’t kept pace with technological change, his office told us Friday. The law’s definitions are broad enough to cover technology that has emerged since the law passed in 1998, said the Center for Democracy & Technology.

As the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Commerce and other agencies develop the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) and other frameworks for keeping customer information and privacy secure online, the Department of Homeland Security’s Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPP) should be a major component, speakers said Friday at the Online Trust & Cybersecurity Forum at Georgetown University. The strategy isn’t a government solution, “it’s about enabling individuals to do things in a more secure fashion,” said Mike Garcia, a Homeland Security strategist on cybersecurity. Industries have different regulations, and the strategy aims to “bring all those into the same fold” and “into something that’s interoperable in which we can bridge those gaps of siloed sectors,” he said.

Privacy recommendations for health IT got hung up for a considerable time Thursday on objections raised on behalf of care providers to requirements for patients to consent before their records go into health information exchanges. Eventually clarifications by the leaders of a privacy and security group set up by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health IT Policy Committee cleared the obstacles during a teleconference and webcast meeting. The committee approved the group’s suggestions by unanimous voice vote.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski made a round of calls to key participants in the net neutrality discussions that fell apart Thursday (CD Aug 6 p1), in the wake of a still-to-be unveiled deal between Verizon and Google, FCC and industry officials said Friday. While the commission is unlikely to host the same kind of talks that have grabbed headlines for in recent weeks, some agreement remains possible under which the FCC could avoid reclassifying broadband as a Title II service.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski made a round of calls to key participants in the net neutrality discussions that fell apart Thursday, in the wake of a still-to-be unveiled deal between Verizon and Google, FCC and industry officials said Friday. While the commission is unlikely to host the same kind of talks that have grabbed headlines for in recent weeks, some agreement remains possible under which the FCC could avoid reclassifying broadband as a Title II service.

News that online companies often track and collect data about the online patterns of users raised the ire of two prominent members of Congress, who sent a letter Thursday demanding answers from more than a dozen companies. Congress probably lacks the time to pass major privacy legislation this year, said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who considering a bill and didn’t co-sign the letter. A series of Wall Street Journal articles starting Saturday said online companies often install consumer-tracking technologies on personal computers when users visit their sites. That spurred Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, to write 15 companies identified in the series, demanding they answer a slew of questions on their data collection practices. http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=4079&Itemid=125