March 8th, 2011
Congressman to revive 2005 online privacy bill with new feedback
ARS Technica
Internet users should be able to see what kind of information companies are collecting about them and how it’s being used. That’s according to US House Representative Cliff Stearns (R-FL), who plans to introduce new legislation that would give users the ability to control how their info is used in advertising. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would play the part of the enforcer, and the bill would go along with the FTC’s own privacy agenda that addresses user tracking.
Stearns discussed his plans for the upcoming bill during a panel discussion at the Technology Policy Institute (TPI) last week. The panel was actually meant to discuss the FTC’s “Do Not Track” initiative, but Stearns took the opportunity during his opening remarks to emphasize the need for legislation to keep companies in check.
The new bill will be based on one that Stearns introduced in 2005—the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, also known as HR 1263. The 2005 bill asked companies to notify users upon the first instance of identifiable information collection on their websites, provide details on how the information would be used, and provide a clear instructions on how users can limit the data collection. Neither the House nor the Senate ended up voting on the bill. Based on Stearns’ description of the bill, it will likely end up being a copy of the old one with some newer twists.