A coalition of 17 groups (including the ACLU, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Privacy Lives) has sent a letter (pdf) to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski “to take the regulatory actions necessary to achieve” several key goals that the FCC laid out as part of its National Broadband Plan (pdf).

Specifically, because of the DC Circuit decision in Comcast vs. FCC, there are now questions regarding Commission’s authority to implement these goals. While legislation might be one route to achieving this objective, we urge the Commission to move forward expeditiously to adopt a legally justifiable regulatory framework to enact the broadband plan.

We are writing this letter now because the importance of moving forward on key civil rights objectives of the national broadband plan has been lost in the context of the debate on net neutrality. Regardless of how organizations view net neutrality, the Commission’s authority to achieve many objectives critical to the civil rights community must be affirmed. These objectives include expansion of the Universal Service Fund to broadband, assurance of transparency and truth in billing, protection of consumers’ privacy online, and internet accessibility for those with disabilities. Because the Comcast decision makes the Commission’s authority to undertake these critical elements of the Plan subject to clarification, it is incumbent on the Commission to have a comprehensive framework on which to move forward to implement its stated goals. [...] Read more »

C-SPAN’s Communicators show has completed a month-long series on privacy issues. The show interviews Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) — who are Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce — about privacy legislation that they are advocating. Privacy Lives joined nine leading privacy and consumer organizations in calling for changes to the discussion draft of the Boucher-Stearns bill, urging much stronger provisions to protect consumer privacy both online and off. The video of C-SPAN’s interview with Boucher and Stearns can be seen here.

Privacy Lives joins 16 groups — including the ACLU, Center for Digital Democracy and Public Citizen — in sending a letter (pdf) to Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz asking the agency “to build on its recent privacy roundtables to draft a comprehensive plan that both details the deficiencies in Americans’ privacy rights, and proposes comprehensive statutory and regulatory solutions to those problems.”

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission announced it would hold public roundtables to “explore the privacy challenges posed by the vast array of 21st century technology and business practices that collect and use consumer data.” The object of the roundtables “is to determine how best to protect consumer privacy while supporting beneficial uses of the information and technological innovation.” At the first roundtable in December, I spoke on a panel about online targeted behavioral advertising. The final roundtable was in March.

In the letter to the FTC, the groups said that, “By dint of its expertise and through the input collected from these events, the Commission is now well positioned to issue a wide ranging report – one that addresses the complex and interconnected problems of data collection, offline and online. We urge the Commission to seize this opportunity.” The Commission should take the following steps, the groups said: Read more »

Privacy Lives joined nine groups, including the ACLU of Northern California and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, in sending an open letter (pdf) to social-neworking site Facebook concerning its privacy policies. The letter, addressed to founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, said:

We are glad to see that Facebook has taken steps in the past weeks to address some of its outstanding privacy problems. However, we are writing to urge you to continue to demonstrate your commitment to the principle of giving users control over how and with whom they share by taking these additional steps:

1. Fix the “app gap” by empowering users to decide exactly which applications can access their personal information.
2. Make “instant personalization” opt-in by default.
3. Do not retain data about specific visitors to third party sites that incorporate “social plugins” or the “like” button unless the site visitor chooses to interact with those tools.
4. Provide users with control over every piece of information they can share via Facebook, including their name, gender, profile picture, and networks. Read more »

In response to a discussion draft of a new privacy bill currently under consideration by the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, Privacy Lives joined nine leading privacy and consumer organizations today in calling for much stronger provisions to protect consumer privacy both online and off.

The groups, including the Consumer Federation of America, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Consumer Watchdog, World Privacy Forum, Consumer Action, US PIRG, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Privacy Times, Privacy Lives, and the Center for Digital Democracy, raised their concerns in a letter (pdf) to Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher and Ranking Member Cliff Stearns.

Recognizing that “Consumers increasingly rely on the Internet and other digital services for a wide range of transactions and services, many of which involve their most sensitive affairs, including health, financial, and other personal matters,” the groups’ letter made a number of recommendations for strengthening the draft privacy bill, including: Read more »

Privacy Lives joined 10 consumer and privacy groups in sending a letter (pdf) to Congress warning that “tracking and targeting of consumers online have reached alarming levels,” and outlining the protections any online privacy legislation must include. Industry self-regulation has not provided meaningful consumer protection and legislation is needed.

“This tracking is an invasion of privacy… Consumers now rely on the Internet and other digital services for a wide variety of transactions,” the groups wrote. “These include sensitive activities, such as health and financial matters. In these contexts, tracking people’s every move online is not simply a matter of convenience or relevance. It presents serious risks to consumers’ privacy, security and dignity.”

Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) chairman of the House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, is expected to introduce online privacy legislation Tuesday.  The coalition’s letter was sent to all members of the U.S House of Representatives. Read more »