SANTA MONICA, Calif.,
Feb. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- The proposed Privacy Bill of Rights Act released by the
White House today fails to adequately protect consumer privacy and
allows industry to dominate making the rules that would govern
corporate behavior, Consumer Watchdog said.
"The bill envisions a process where industry will dominate in
developing codes of conduct," said John M.
Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's Privacy Project director.
"The bill is full of loopholes and gives consumers no meaningful
control of their data."
Three years ago President Obama unveiled his Consumer Privacy
Bill of Rights. The draft legislation released Friday is
supposed to implement those excellent privacy principles. Consumer
Watchdog said the Administration should actively engage with
consumer groups and improve the bill's protections so that the
principles outlined Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights are actually
met.
Read the draft Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Act here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/letters/cpbr-act-of-2015-discussion-draft.pdf
The bill relies heavily on a "multi-stakeholder" process to
develop codes of conduct that would give companies that adopt those
codes a "safe harbor" from enforcement. The National
Telecommunications and Information Administration has run two such
efforts, one for a code about transparency for mobile apps and a
second developing a code covering facial recognition.
"It's a failed process that hasn't worked," said Simpson, "but
the proposed legislation relies on it and would give the NTIA
enhanced special status."
Consumer Watchdog said the FTC should be given full rulemaking
and full enforcement authority to protect consumers' privacy.
Another problem with the proposed legislation is that it would
pre-empt stronger state laws. Any pre-emption should set a floor,
not a ceiling, allowing states to have stronger protections,
Consumer Watchdog said.
"Nothing good for privacy in Washington ever gets released late on a Friday
afternoon," said Simpson.
Visit our website www.consumerwatchdog.org
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SOURCE Consumer Watchdog