Lawmakers in USA Publish Internet Privacy Bill
May 7th, 2010 by adminA proposed law to improve privacy protections for internet users in the US has been published by the House of Representatives subcommittee on Communications, Technology and Internet. It is believed that by implementing such measures online users will be afforded greater protection under the privacy policy in the current market of online behavioural advertising by companies.
It has long been debated throughout the globe to what extent data collection and data retention is acceptable to target consumers with specific advertising depending on their usage of ecommerce sites.
The new law contains a clause that states that a company shall not have the authority to collect, disclose or use certain personal information and data, called covered information, unless a privacy notice or privacy policy explaining why and how personal information will be collected and stored is present on the site. Further to this, website owners must also ensure such a privacy policy contains a consent form for users to confirm they have read, understood and accept the terms of the websites data collection and data retention policies.
In accordance with the US lawmaker’s publication, the privacy policy must be clearly visible on the website and easily accessed by users from the homepage.
The publication states that a user will have been deemed to have consented to the privacy policy of the website if they expressly grant their consent or if they do not decline to provide their consent.
The law will act to limit the scope by which a company may disclose user’s personal data to third parties. In contrast, the law will not apply to government organisations or companies collecting the personal data of less than 5000 in any yearly period.
Last year there was some speculation regarding user’s online safety when disclosing their personal information over the web. The European Union’s Consumer Affairs Commissioner stated that behavioural advertising techniques should be closely monitored. Further to this, the Office of Fair Trading in the UK has been investigating the extent to which consumers should be protected in relation to the use of the personal information to decide what advertisements they get to see when searching online.
