WANTED: Your Input On Facebook Data Privacy In FTC Proposal

The Federal Trade Commission needs your help: comment on a proposed framework that appears to address recent controversy over sharing user data on Facebook. The FTC's 122-page proposal parallels efforts by Facebook to hone its user identification sharing protocol so that data brokers can't get their mitts on private information. Proposed policy that could affect this includes the FTC's online tracking version of the National Do Not Call Registry. This would be a single centralized database where consumers could sign up once and then free themselves of being tracked by any and all data brokers, malware and the like. Other suggestions offered by the FTC include: All companies that collect or use consumer data online need to promote privacy protection. Companies need to simplify choices for consumers about how their data is used. Companies should be more candid about how they use data. Public disclosures of privacy policies need to be more accessible and easier to read. Consumers should be able to access the data collected by companies. Sure, the list above dramatically simplifies the FTC proposals, but the agency does ask companies to make these things easier to read. By no means are the above suggestions definitive. In fact, the FTC includes five-and-a-half questions, starting on page 95 of the proposal. Here are a few of our favorites, not in the order they appear in the agency's document: How can individual businesses, industry associations, consumer groups and government do a better job of informing consumers about privacy? Are there practical considerations that support excluding certain types of companies or businesses from the framework -- for example, businesses that collect, maintain, or use a limited amount of non-sensitive consumer data? Are there substantive protections, in addition to those set forth in ... the report, that companies should provide and how should the costs and benefits of such protections be balanced? What are the potential costs and benefits of offering a standardized uniform choice mechanism to control online behavioral advertising? How many consumers would likely choose to avoid receiving targeted advertising? What is the likely impact if large numbers of consumers elect to opt out? How would it affect online publishers and advertisers, and how would it affect consumers? Many more questions appear in the FTC report, making clear that the agency wants to learn about the technology involved before making any policy decisions. To give feedback on possible policy changes that would affect Facebook promotions, first click here to read the FTC proposal, and then click here to submit a comment. Readers, what kind of input do you have for the FTC regarding privacy policy?

Social Pro Daily

WANTED: Your Input On Facebook Data Privacy In FTC Proposal

The Federal Trade Commission seeks input on whether it needs stricter policies for consumer privacy online.

Jackie Cohen

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Jackie Cohen