Obama proposes online privacy “bill of rights”
WASHINGTON – JULY 6: during an online Twitter town hall meeting from the East Room of the White House July 6, 2011 in Washington, DC. President Obama and Twitter co-founder and Executive Chairman Jack Dorsey held the online discussion to speak about the United State’s debt ceiling crisis. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)
The Obama adminsitration on Thursday proposed an overhaul of online privacy rules and regulations, Politico reported.
"The framework for a new privacy code moves electronic commerce closer to a one-click, one-touch process by which users can tell Internet companies whether they want their online activity tracked," The New York Times said.
The seven point "bill of rights" calls for "individual control, transparency, respect for context, security, access and accuracy, focused collection, and accountability." Full details of the plan can be read at the White House website.
In the full proposal unveiled on the White House website, Obama introduces the proposal by noting that privacy is a constitutionally-protected right that was extended over the postal service, telephone communication, and eventually email. "One thing should be clear, even though we live in a world in which we share personal information more freely than in the past, we must reject the conclusion that privacy is an outmoded value," Obama wrote. "It has been at the heart of our democracy from its inception, and we need it now more than ever."
The overhaul is "unlikely" to be passed in an election year Congress, according to The Times, but the Federal Trade Commission will be able to regulate privacy breaches as it has been doing in the past.
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