As the push for Congress to pass comprehensive consumer privacy legislation increases, Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA) has re-introduced the Information Transparency & Personal Data Control Act, a compromise proposal that contains provisions sought by both parties. This bill would create national data privacy standards and increase the enforcement authority of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) … Continue Reading
Tomorrow the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a hearing entitled, “What Information Do Data Brokers Have on Consumers, and How Do They Use It?” According to Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV), the Committee will “examine the data broker industry and how industry practices may impact consumers.” The following witnesses … Continue Reading
The National Telecommunications & Information Administration (“NTIA”) announced today that it will convene a series of meetings about the commercial uses of facial recognition technology. The goal of the meetings will be to develop a voluntary, enforceable code of conduct specifying how the Obama Administration’s “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” applies to facial recognition. The first … Continue Reading
Today, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing to seek the views of the Federal Trade Commission and the Administration on privacy issues. Discussion at the hearing, entitled “The Need for Privacy Protections: Perspectives from the Administration and the Federal Trade Commission,” focused in significant part on the privacy reports recently … Continue Reading
The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) sought public comment Wednesday on how to begin the process of developing voluntary codes of conduct governing consumer privacy, as called for in the privacy framework released by the White House last month. That report argues that companies should follow seven basic principles — a … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology on Tuesday released a final version of its guidelines for how organizations — particularly federal agencies — should manage security and privacy concerns when considering the use of public cloud-computing services. Public cloud services, unlike private clouds, require users to store their data on … Continue Reading
In a speech this week at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Internet Policy Daniel Weitzner announced that the Administration will soon roll out a “privacy bill of rights,” which he described as a “broad, high-level statement of principles” that could be enforced by the FTC. Weitzner emphasized that … Continue Reading
Last week, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released for public comment a draft roadmap for implementing cloud computing technology across U.S. government agencies. The roadmap is intended to foster adoption of cloud computing by federal agencies, reduce uncertainty surrounding cloud computing by improving the information available to policymakers, and facilitate … Continue Reading
Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV), chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, is still working to reach consensus on the data security bill that he and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) introduced in June. A scheduled markup was canceled in September, and the committee decided not to consider the bill at yesterday’s executive session. Nonetheless, a spokesman for … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued a guidance document regarding public companies’ disclosure obligations relating to cybersecurity risks and breaches. The guidance responds to a request by Sen. Jay Rockefeller that the SEC clarify its position on this increasingly important issue. The Division noted that as companies have turned to digital technologies to … Continue Reading
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade held the latest in its series of hearings on Internet privacy Wednesday morning. The hearing — titled “Protecting Children’s Privacy in an Electronic World” — focused on the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed updates to the regulations implementing the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act … Continue Reading
Politico and other news sources are reporting that the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade plans to hold a hearing on the FTC’s proposed revisions to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act rule. We previously analyzed the FTC’s proposal here. The hearing has not yet been formally announced but is … Continue Reading
Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, and Cameron Kerry, general counsel of the Department of Commerce, spoke today about the need for industry codes of conduct to address emerging privacy issues. They were the featured speakers at an event held by the Brookings Institution on strategies to protect consumer privacy while ensuring continued … Continue Reading
The Commerce Department is calling for the creation of nationally recognized, voluntary codes of conduct to help strengthen cybersecurity protections for online businesses. The Department issued its recommendations in a green paper on “Cybersecurity, Innovation and the Internet Economy,” which was released on June 8, 2011. As noted in today’s Federal Register, the Department will … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade held its second hearing on data security in the past month. The hearing featured the testimony of top executives from Sony and Epsilon, companies that recently have been the victims of large-scale cyber attacks. The hearing focused mainly on the specifics of the recent attacks, the … Continue Reading
On Friday, the Obama Administration unveiled the final draft of its ambitious National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), which seeks to develop new and more secure systems for identity authentication online, creating new “Identity Ecosystem.” Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke as well as other officials unveiled the NSTIC (pronounced “en-stick”), which is signed … Continue Reading
Yesterday, Senator Jay Rockefeller announced that the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, which he chairs, will hold a hearing on cybersecurity issues on March 29. This is not a new issue for Senator Rockefeller or the Senate Commerce Committee, which approved cybersecurity legislation during the 111th Congress. The Senate Homeland Security Committee had its … Continue Reading
It is no surprise that the 97 comments filed in response to the Department of Commerce’s Green Paper on “Commercial Data Privacy and Innovation in the Internet Economy: A Dynamic Policy Framework” take a range of positions on issues such as the need for federal privacy legislation, the relevance of the Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPs), … Continue Reading
The Department of Commerce’s request for comments on its “green paper” regarding Internet privacy was just published in the Federal Register. Comments on the paper are due January 28, 2011. More information and Covington’s analysis of the green paper are available in our earlier post.… Continue Reading
The Department of Commerce has just issued its much-anticipated “green paper” on online privacy. The paper, “Commercial Data Privacy and Innovation in the Internet Economy: A Dynamic Policy Framework” [PDF], reflects Commerce’s stepped-up focus on privacy issues coming out the formation of its Internet Policy Task Force this past April. In its report, Commerce asks for … Continue Reading
