Berkeley

Needless to say, the document most of us are reading now is the 209-page General Data Protection Regulation, just agreed upon by the institutions of the European Union.  A few parts are quite a page-turner.  (Parental consent for under-16s to access the Internet? Srsly?)  But even with this scintillating read, we find ourselves reaching for something a bit less, well, dense.

This weekend we can do that without ever leaving the EU-US comparative mindset.  Professors Ken Bamberger and Deirdre Mulligan of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology have just published a groundbreaking work called Privacy on the Ground: Driving Corporate Behavior in the United States and Europe (MIT Press).  The book, which expands on the authors’ groundbreaking 2011 article, is based on empirical research that focuses not on what the law says in the EU and the U.S., but how privacy is actually practiced under five countries’ laws – the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, and Spain.  In findings that will be surprising and counterintuitive to some of our European colleagues, Ken and Deirdre find that the strongest privacy management practices are found in the United States and Germany.  That’s right – stronger practices in the U.S. than in France, Spain and the U.K.  I’m looking forward to the European reviews!  And to digging into the details.
Continue Reading Privacy Weekend: Provocative Articles We’re Reading Now

Two reports have recently been released that look at consumer perceptions of online privacy issues and examine user tracking practices on popular websites.

TRUSTe Privacy Index

TRUSTe released its Privacy Index for the second quarter of 2012, which measures consumer confidence in their online privacy.  The numbers show that consumers are concerned about web privacy issues and make decisions based on perceptions of companies’ privacy practices.

Consumer concern and mistrust about online privacy are up from Q1.  In the latest Privacy Index, 91% of U.S. adults say they worry about their privacy online (versus 90% in Q1), and 53% say they do not completely trust businesses with their information (versus 41% in Q1). 

The percent of adults that say privacy issues impact their buying decisions has remained steady.  88% of adults say they avoid companies that they believe do not protect their privacy.Continue Reading Two Recent Privacy Reports on Consumer Confidence and Website Tracking Practices