NTIA mobile privacy stakeholders met Thursday to discuss a voluntary code of conduct regarding how apps inform users what information they collect and how they use and share that information. The voluntary set of best practices, once adopted, would create an obligation for adopters, said John Verdi, NTIA director-privacy initiatives. “Once [apps] adopt, it is enforceable” by regulators including the FTC and state attorneys general, he said. Stakeholders discussed how the draft’s wording affects that obligation: “'Shall’ and must are mandatory. ‘Should’ is recommended,” Verdi summarized.
Lawmakers and data brokers should be able to agree on the need to protect children’s online privacy, said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., co-chair of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, at a Thursday caucus briefing on data broker practices. If data brokers and lawmakers can agree on that, he said, they can use that agreement as a starting point for a broader conversation on data brokers during the next Congress. Lawmakers respect the role of advertising in a world with free online content, said caucus co-chair Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas: “We're not anti-ad. … We're not even anti-targeted advertising.” He and Markey simply favor users having access to what information is collected on them, Barton said.
Lawmakers and data brokers should be able to agree on the need to protect children’s online privacy, said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., co-chair of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, at a Thursday caucus briefing on data broker practices. If data brokers and lawmakers can agree on that, he said, they can use that agreement as a starting point for a broader conversation on data brokers during the next Congress. Lawmakers respect the role of advertising in a world with free online content, said caucus co-chair Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas: “We're not anti-ad. … We're not even anti-targeted advertising.” He and Markey simply favor users having access to what information is collected on them, Barton said.
Partisan strife flared in a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Wednesday over the FCC framework for the spectrum incentive auction. Republican lawmakers and FCC commissioners sparred with Democrats over how the government should acquire and reallocate some of the nation’s most valuable airwaves. Partisan differences over how much spectrum should be preserved to protect licensed spectrum and be used for lower-power unlicensed activities played out in recent days in commissioners’ prepared testimony (CD Dec 12 p7). Democrats separately expressed disapproval of a draft order that would relax media cross-ownership rules (CD Dec 12 p5), which they said would have a negative impact on media diversity and localism.
An FTC survey of children’s apps “paint[s] a disappointing picture of the privacy protections provided by apps for children” (http://xrl.us/bn5qda). The survey, a followup to a report on the same topic from February (http://xrl.us/bn5qdc), said mobile apps don’t give parents information about what information the apps will collect from children or who that information will be shared with. The “study shows that kids’ apps siphon an alarming amount of information from mobile devices without disclosing this fact to parents,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement.
Kids’ Apps Still Not Providing Adequate Information and FTC Plans Investigations, Agency Report Says
An FTC survey of children’s apps “paint[s] a disappointing picture of the privacy protections provided by apps for children” (http://xrl.us/bn5qda). The survey, a followup to a report on the same topic from February (http://xrl.us/bn5qdc), said mobile apps don’t give parents information about what information the apps will collect from children or who that information will be shared with. The “study shows that kids’ apps siphon an alarming amount of information from mobile devices without disclosing this fact to parents,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement.
Stakeholders disagreed over how to move forward on mobile privacy at a Friday NTIA meeting, the sixth in the multistakeholder discussion process to develop industry standards for mobile privacy. The meeting included presentations on short form notice prototypes and discussion of two drafts of mobile privacy codes of conduct.
Stakeholders disagreed over how to move forward on mobile privacy, at a Friday NTIA meeting, the sixth in the multistakeholder discussion process to develop industry standards for mobile privacy. The meeting included presentations on short form notice prototypes and discussion of two drafts of mobile privacy codes of conduct.
A spokeswoman for Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, urged Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt., to delay his planned Nov. 29 markup of a bill aimed at updating the 26-year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). “Judging by the concerns on both sides of the issue, it may be time to take a step back, hold additional hearings to address concerns, and discuss the issues being raised instead of rewriting the bill behind closed doors,” the Grassley spokeswoman said in an email Tuesday. The comment followed a report from CNET which said Leahy was revising the bill to permit more than 22 agencies to access American’s emails and social networking content without a search warrant.
A spokeswoman for Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, urged Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt., to delay his planned Nov. 29 markup of a bill aimed at updating the 26-year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). “Judging by the concerns on both sides of the issue, it may be time to take a step back, hold additional hearings to address concerns, and discuss the issues being raised instead of rewriting the bill behind closed doors,” the Grassley spokeswoman said in an email Tuesday. The comment followed a report from CNET which said Leahy was revising the bill to permit more than 22 agencies to access American’s emails and social networking content without a search warrant.