Ed's Blog

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today released a major report on consumer privacy. From FTC -- "In the report, “Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers,” the FTC also recommends that Congress consider enacting general privacy legislation, data security and breach notification legislation, and data broker legislation."

U.S. PIRG has long urged requiring companies that collect and use confidential consumer information to comply with the Code of Fair Information Practices. Thes rules, first proposed in the 1970s, require data collection minimization, use limitation, no secondary use without informed consent, a right for consumers to review and correct dossiers and files, a requirement to keep information accurate and secure and additional protections that have become even more important as the Internet has accelerated the collection of consumer data, the use of those data for instant decision-making and the development of robust technologies to analyze the data to make predictions about and even manipulate consumers.