Shall we call it the Ministry of Truth or the Protectors of Freedom?
According the Wall Street Journal, the Obama Administration is about to release via the U.S. Commerce Department their vision for “policing Internet privacy” and will call for new regulations and the creation of a new position to oversee these privacy laws.
The proposal may be met with some GOP support on the privacy front, but if there is any legislation that expands the scope and size of government, while stifling commerce, it’s likely to meet strong opposition. Of course, if the legislation is too watered-down, then those seeking tougher privacy laws are not likely to back the administration either.
There is no comprehensive U.S. law that protects consumer privacy online. Internet privacy issues generally are policed by the FTC, which can take action only if a privacy-violating action is deemed “deceptive” or “unfair.”
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The central issue in writing federal privacy legislation is whether the Internet industry’s efforts to police its own behavior has been effective enough. Proponents of legislation argue the industry is a Wild West where consumer data are gathered and sold without restrictions. Opponents of legislation say the industry is committed to providing tools to give consumers better insight into and control over data about themselves.Commerce’s draft report doesn’t recommend specific legislation, but does indicate that self-regulation isn’t robust enough, these people said. The administration would seek to guide the legislative debate through its new privacy office.
Who picks and chooses the data to protect and not protect? What about information shared globally? Who would the new regulations apply to? What data is protected? What’s considered commerce?
Lots of questions, few answers. This is surely just the beginning of this discussion.
