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John Kerry: We Need A Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights
John Kerry: We Need A Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights
Our guest blogger is Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
Forgive my frustration, but on the subject of Internet privacy, I feel just a little bit like we’re all starring in a remake of the movie “Groundhog Day.”
Every couple of weeks, the press exposes a company doing something with our information we intuitively know is unfair. The next day, politicians send outraged press releases and letters.
But nothing changes.
And we know Americans want change. The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently reported that sixty-eight percent of Americans are not OK with targeted advertising because they don’t want their online activities tracked and analyzed. And they certainly don’t like feeling powerless to control the tracking. Only 38 percent of Internet users say they knew how to limit the information an online company collects on them. I believe those two data points are related and that if we required collectors to give Americans more and easier to use control over their information, they would be less squeamish about its collection and use.
<...>
I can tell you that there are many companies collecting information on you right now lobbying hard against any new law governing what they do. Even more troubling – they believe that you don’t have or should not have any “rights” when it comes to your information. I disagree, and so does this Administration.
But we need to start a movement that actually gets us somewhere — resulting in passage of the Kerry-McCain Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights.
- more -
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/21/449508/john-kerry-commercial-privacy-bill-of-rights/
Our guest blogger is Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
Forgive my frustration, but on the subject of Internet privacy, I feel just a little bit like we’re all starring in a remake of the movie “Groundhog Day.”
Every couple of weeks, the press exposes a company doing something with our information we intuitively know is unfair. The next day, politicians send outraged press releases and letters.
But nothing changes.
And we know Americans want change. The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently reported that sixty-eight percent of Americans are not OK with targeted advertising because they don’t want their online activities tracked and analyzed. And they certainly don’t like feeling powerless to control the tracking. Only 38 percent of Internet users say they knew how to limit the information an online company collects on them. I believe those two data points are related and that if we required collectors to give Americans more and easier to use control over their information, they would be less squeamish about its collection and use.
<...>
I can tell you that there are many companies collecting information on you right now lobbying hard against any new law governing what they do. Even more troubling – they believe that you don’t have or should not have any “rights” when it comes to your information. I disagree, and so does this Administration.
But we need to start a movement that actually gets us somewhere — resulting in passage of the Kerry-McCain Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights.
- more -
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/21/449508/john-kerry-commercial-privacy-bill-of-rights/
8 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
...and necessary. Glad to see you and Senator McCain working together on it. 
..that he would help him do that. 
Sounds good. Sorry more people aren't taking notice of all you do Senator. 
