Special interest groups come
together at Capitol Hill to demand better privacy laws.
Many advocacy groups from across the country met in Washington
recently for
a joint hearing on offline and online data collection. With increasing
privacy
incursions occurring online, the groups presented a strong case for
greater
vigilance with regard to consumer data.
A Senior Staff Attorney from the Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF), which
is based in San Francisco, said that their primary concern was about
the scale
of online tracking and surveillance being carried out without customer
consent.
Jeff Chester, Executive Director, Center for Digital Democracy
said that this
event was the first step in educating the public about the importance
of respecting
privacy online.
While governments in the US and Europe have heaped pressure on
industry for
more effective self-policing, experts say there remains much to be done
in
the effort to maintain acceptable standards of online privacy.
On behalf of Congress, Rep. Rick Boucher, Communications,
Technology and the
Internet Subcommittee Chair indicated that a privacy bill could be
introduced
by the end of November.
With a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Roundtable on Privacy
scheduled for
December 7, privacy advocacy groups are preparing for critical
discussions
on the issue. The FTC, for its part, announced that it would "explore
the privacy challenges posed by the vast array of 21st century
technology and
business practices that collect and use consumer data."
The advent of social media, new age digital advertising
practices and sophisticated
data collection techniques has created new threats for users and
greater challenges
for regulators. It is in light of these developments that users and
advocacy
groups alike are demanding more protection for data through tougher
legislations.
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