Walt Mossberg interviewed Jon Leibowitz, Federal Trade Commission chairman, this week at the D10 Conference.
Leibowitz explained that there is no U.S. privacy statute, but argues that the FTC’s “broad prohibition against ‘unfair and deceptive acts or practices’ gives it a decent enough paddle with which to smack Google, Facebook and other companies that need to be reminded that our personal information is also our property.”
In the last decade, the FTC has brought more than 100 spam and spyware cases and 30 cases on data security. This includes major cases against Google and Facebook.
A fundamental tenant suggests that your information is your property, not that of the website or service. A Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights is being developed in Congress.
A Do Not Track option for third party apps is a modest provision and company executives have told Leibowitz that this would help address people’s concerns and is good for business. There has been meaningful progress by business.
Privacy is one of the few bipartisan areas of agreement in Congress. If business does not address this, there may be more regulations forthcoming.
Walt Mossberg interviewed Jon Leibowitz, Federal Trade Commission chairman, this week at the D10 Conference.
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