CDD and U.S. PIRG Call for Much Stronger Privacy and Consumer Protection Safeguards

CDD and U.S. PIRG Call for Much Stronger Privacy and Consumer Protection Safeguards from Department of Commerce Internet Initiative

Urge Administration to Place Interests of Consumers First, including Ensuring FTC and other Independent Agencies Play Lead Role

Groups Criticize Commerce Dep’t Proposal to Have Policy Safeguards Developed By Industry-oriented Stakeholder Process

28 January 2011/Washington, DC: In comments filed today with the Department of Commerce, the Center for Digital Democracy and U.S. PIRG renewed their call for much stronger consumer privacy safeguards in the online marketplace. Writing in response to the Department of Commerce Internet Policy Task Force’s recent report—“Commercial Data Privacy and Innovation in the Internet Economy: A Dynamic Policy Framework”—the groups expressed concern that the report did not provide a well-researched and critical analysis of contemporary consumer online data collection practices. They were also critical of the overall lack of consumer and privacy group involvement by the Task Force: “Given the Department’s orientation,” the groups’ filing declares, “—to protect the interests of U.S. business interests before the needs of consumers—it is not surprising that it did not work to ensure the creation of a record that included meaningful consumer and privacy group feedback.”

“In light of its lamentable record of consumer privacy protection,” CDD’s Jeff Chester explained, “we do not believe that the Commerce Department should establish a Privacy Policy Office; nor should it attempt to assert greater control over U.S. consumer privacy issues. U.S. consumers require an independent agency to play the lead role developing and promoting privacy and digital consumer protection policy.” CDD and U.S. PIRG noted that both the FTC and the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection provide the pro-consumer and independent agency environment that will ensure consumers are treated fairly as new privacy regulations are set.

Ed Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director for U.S. PIRG, noted the call by the Commerce report for the use of Fair Information Privacy Principles. But he expressed concern that under the Commerce proposal, such principles would be based on “weak, self-regulatory codes that would allow industry to continue their data-collection practices. A flimsy regime composed of voluntary, enforceable privacy codes of conduct,” explained Mierzwinski, “developed through a flawed and likely industry-dominated private ‘multi-stake holder’ process (as proposed by the report) would fail to provide the range of effective legal safeguards consumers require in the digital era.”

Both CDD and U.S. PIRG urged that the new Commerce report be fundamentally revised before it is submitted to President Obama. The groups also noted that the Commerce proposal could undermine more effective consumer and privacy rules established by the European Union.

The Center for Digital Democracy is a nonprofit group working to educate the public about the impact of digital marketing on public health, consumer protection, and privacy. It has played a leading role at the FTC and in Congress to help promote the development of legal safeguards for behavioral targeting and other online data collection practices.

U.S. PIRG serves as the federation of non-profit, non-partisan state Public Interest Research Groups. PIRGs are public interest advocacy organizations that take on powerful interests on behalf of their members. For twenty years, U.S. PIRG has been concerned with privacy and compliance by governments and commercial firms with Fair Information Practices.