Obama Reveals “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights”

The Obama Administration debuted a new “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” on Thursday. The White House says the document will “guide efforts” to help give consumers more control over their own personal information, and to help businesses maintain trust with those consumers.

Online advertisers like Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and AOL have indicated to the White House that they are willing to comply with new privacy regulations, a release from the White House said, particularly in cases where consumers opt in to more controlled programs.

The Commerce Department has also begun developing enforceable privacy policies to go along with the new framework, the administration said via release.

Below, a list of bullets from the administration’s press release that highlight key facets of the new legislative effort:

• Transparency: Consumers have a right to easily understandable information about privacy and security practices.
• Respect for Context: Consumers have a right to expect that organizations will collect, use, and disclose personal data in ways that are consistent with the context in which consumers provide the data.
• Security: Consumers have a right to secure and responsible handling of personal data.
• Access and Accuracy: Consumers have a right to access and correct personal data in usable formats, in a manner that is appropriate to the sensitivity of the data and the risk of adverse consequences to consumers if the data are inaccurate.
• Focused Collection: Consumers have a right to reasonable limits on the personal data that companies collect and retain.
• Accountability: Consumers have a right to have personal data handled by companies with appropriate measures in place to assure they adhere to the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.