A little over a month ago, ReputationDefender COO Owen Tripp shared some insight on the problems with behavioral advertising and the steps that were being taken to protect consumer privacy. As of Monday, thanks to Rep. Rick Boucher D-VA,we know just what those steps will be.
According to the Associated Press, Rep. Boucher (who heads the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet) is drafting legislation that will fundamentally alter existing data mining techniques, allowing for consumers to “know what information is being collected about them on the Web and how it is being used, and to give them control over that information.”
Naturally, Rep. Boucher’s legislation has struck a strong chord with privacy activists.
From the AP article:
“Consumers have no idea that they are being followed online and that their information is being compiled into invisible digital dossiers,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, one of 10 privacy groups that recently issued recommendations for lawmakers. “There is an incredibly sophisticated, ever-advancing system for profiling online users.”Chester believes several developments have put the issue on Washington’s radar. Those include the rise of social networking sites that capture detailed personal information, like Facebook and MySpace; Google Inc.‘s acquisition of the Internet ad service DoubleClick Inc.; and the proposed Internet search partnership between Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., now under review by the Justice Department.
“Online privacy has finally taken off and become a serious political issue,” Chester said. “A perfect digital storm has created momentum toward action.”
Mr. Chester’s points are apt. With the rapid expansion of social media, it is no longer reasonable to expect that one’s information can be kept anonymous online, and that means serious security consequences. Because there are so many data points available for every Internet user, it does not make much effort to tie a person’s Internet identity to their practical identity. A recent article by Nate Anderson of Ars Technica explored this very problem.
Quoting law professor Paul Ohm, the article states:
“For almost every person on earth, there is at least one fact about them stored in a computer database that an adversary could use to blackmail, discriminate against, harass, or steal the identity of him or her. I mean more than mere embarrassment or inconvenience; I mean legally cognizable harm. Perhaps it is a fact about past conduct, health, or family shame. For almost every one of us, then, we can assume a hypothetical ‘database of ruin,’ the one containing this fact but until now splintered across dozens of databases on computers around the world, and thus disconnected from our identity. Reidentification has formed the database of ruin and given access to it to our worst enemies.”
On the other side of the fence, the Internet advertising industry believes that any kind of governmental regulation will be too slow to adapt to changes in technology, which could hinder the economy of the Internet. What they propose instead is a series of self-regulatory measures that evolve with technological developments to meet the needs of consumers. While their points have merit – government regulation of the Internet industry has been notoriously slow and often ineffectual – the most important issue at stake here is protecting consumer privacy, and, unfortunately for Internet advertisers, information that is useful for data mining does not protect consumer privacy.
As Rep. Boucher’s legislation makes its way through Congress, ReputationDefender will be here to provide additional insight and analysis. For up to the minute news on Internet privacy and Online Reputaion Management issues, follow ReputationDefender on Twitter.
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[...] ago, ReputationDefender Blog reported that Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) was in the process of drafting new legislation that would curb behavioral advertising and provide consumers with control over how their [...]
[...] seem to have gotten anywhere, as the government is still pressing for legislation that will provide sweeping changes to the way internet companies can use data and how they inform consumers about data [...]
[...] seem to have gotten anywhere, as the government is still pressing for legislation that will provide sweeping changes to the way internet companies can use data and how they inform consumers about data [...]
[...] we reported last week here at the ReputationDefender Blog, the race is on for internet companies to convince Congress and the American people that behavioral advertising and [...]
[...] D.C. has been whipped into a fit over privacy on the web. Not only is Congress considering passing legislation to prohibit or curb data mining and behavioral advertising, but groups on both sides of the debate [...]
[...] D.C. has been whipped into a fit over privacy on the web. Not only is Congress considering passing legislation to prohibit or curb data mining and behavioral advertising, but groups on both sides of the debate [...]
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