Opening Statement at National Press Club

 
I’m Jeff Chester, executive director, of the Center for Digital Democracy. 
I welcome you to an important conversation about protecting the personal privacy of Americans entitled:  Yes, They Really Know It's You: The Digital Collection of Personal Information from Consumers and Citizens. 

The sponsors of today’s press club briefing include The ACLU, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Consumer Watchdog, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, US PIRG, the World Privacy Forum and my CDD.
I thank Chairman Jon Leibowitz of the FTC and the other distinguished speakers for agreeing to present today. 
The personal privacy of all Americans is at risk in what’s being called the “Big Data” era.  There has been an explosion of sophisticated and ubiquitous technologies that track, profile, and target all of us—online and offline, in the store, on the street, in our homes.  Such surveillance is now routine.
 
Information about our habits, behaviors, travels and interests are gathered and sold to the highest bidder in milliseconds—including information related to our finances, health, family, ethnicity, and political interests.  This press club presentation will help us identify the risks and dangers, and whether our political leaders have the wisdom to place in balance the rights of individuals to protect their privacy in the face of a vast commercial data collection system.  We need to become good “stewards” of the data collection environment, helping place in balance the forces that can be both a boon and also a threat to individual freedom.
 
The FTC staff has proposed a framework designed to protect individual privacy while also ensuring data collection companies engage in best practices.  I look forward to hearing about that plan.