White House seeks privacy balance in a ‘Big Data’ world
The Obama administration plans to increase online privacy and prevent discrimination through the use of 'Big Data' analysis by updating existing laws and introducing new measures
The White House on Thursday suggested updates to laws and other measures to enhance privacy and prevent discrimination based on the data trail left by consumers on their phones and computers that companies and researchers collect and analyse.
Both privacy advocates and tech groups found something to like within the 90-day “Big Data” review, led by John Podesta, a top adviser to President Barack Obama.
The review consulted internet companies such as Google and Facebook, data miners like Acxiom, as well as academics, advertising agencies, legal experts, civil rights groups and intelligence agencies.
“We see ‘Big Data’ as one of the great privacy challenges facing the country.”
The White House threw its support behind a legislative update to a privacy law for e-mail, the Electronic Privacy Communications Act. The bill, which protects e-mail and other data stored in the cloud, has stalled in Congress, but is backed by privacy groups and the tech sector.
The review also recommended legislation to create a national standard for telling consumers when their data has been hacked to improve upon a patchwork of state laws for data breaches, such as the December breach at retailer Target.
The Commerce Department also said it would look at how to codify a “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” that calls for consumers to have more say in how their data is used, first drafted by White House in 2012.
The emphasis on data protections pleased Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Centre.
“We see ‘Big Data’ as one of the great privacy challenges facing the country,” said Rotenberg, who teaches information privacy law at Georgetown University Law Centre.
