Topic: Civil Rights
Title: White House pushes online privacy bill of rights
Author: David Goldman
Publication: CNN
Date: February 23 2012
Length: 550 words
The Obama administration introduced a new sets of online bill of rights intended to protect the privacy of internet users when they surf the Web. The bill includes a set of guidelines for internet companies about how they should treat consumers' data and manage their customer interactions. The policy stresses transparency, security, and user control of their data. The administration chose to enforce the policy because recently there has been a rapid increase in online fraud and in customers' confusion about how and when they are being tracked. Also, corporations have been found violating customers' privacy. For example, mobile phone apps were found to be uploading entire address books to their servers without permission, handset makers were caught installing secret software that could possibly record keystrokes, and Google was caught violating Safari's privacy setting. Supporting the privacy bill of rights, the Digital Advertising Alliance also announced that it is working to enhance its "Do Not Track" technology for most major Web browsers. Although this bill of rights is voluntary, the administration believes that corporations will be compelled to participate in order to gain trust from their customers. For those that sign up, the Federal Trade Commission can enforce the provisions by taking punitive actions against violators.
The Obama administration introduced a new sets of online bill of rights intended to protect the privacy of internet users when they surf the Web. The bill includes a set of guidelines for internet companies about how they should treat consumers' data and manage their customer interactions. The policy stresses transparency, security, and user control of their data. The administration chose to enforce the policy because recently there has been a rapid increase in online fraud and in customers' confusion about how and when they are being tracked. Also, corporations have been found violating customers' privacy. For example, mobile phone apps were found to be uploading entire address books to their servers without permission, handset makers were caught installing secret software that could possibly record keystrokes, and Google was caught violating Safari's privacy setting. Supporting the privacy bill of rights, the Digital Advertising Alliance also announced that it is working to enhance its "Do Not Track" technology for most major Web browsers. Although this bill of rights is voluntary, the administration believes that corporations will be compelled to participate in order to gain trust from their customers. For those that sign up, the Federal Trade Commission can enforce the provisions by taking punitive actions against violators.
I support the new sets of policies because I think online privacy is very important for internet users. However, the stated rules are vague and broad, and corporations can easily find loopholes to disregard them. The bill was introduced with good intent, but the rules need to be more specific and comprehensive in order for it to be effective.
This article shows how much can happen when you are not paying attention. The internet is something that is used by many and it is apalling that Google violated Safari's privacy setting. Internet companies need to be liable for managing their customers interactions. No one can control the internet, but privacy controls and security of data are a must.
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