Kerry McCain bill proposes “minimal disclosure” for transaction

Steve Satterfield at Inside Privacy gives us this overview of central features of new Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights proposed by US Senators Kerry and McCain (download it here):

  • The draft envisions a significant role for the FTC and includes provisions requiring the FTC to promulgate rules on a number of important issues, including the appropriate consent mechanism for uses of data.  The FTC would also be tasked with issuing rules obligating businesses to provide reasonable security measures for the consumer data they maintain and to provide transparent notices about data practices.
  • The draft also states that businesses should “seek” to collect only as much “covered information” as is reasonably necessary to provide a transaction or service requested by an individual, to prevent fraud, or to improve the transaction or service
  • “Covered information” is defined broadly and would include not just “personally identifiable information” (such as name, address, telephone number, social security number), but also “unique identifier information,” including a customer number held in a cookie, a user ID, a processor serial number or a device serial number.  Unlike definitions of “covered information” that appear in separate bills authored by Reps. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and Jackie Speier (D-Cal.), this definition specifically covers cookies and device IDs.
  • The draft encompasses a data retention principle, providing that businesses should only retain covered information only as long as necessary to provide the transaction or service “or for a reasonable period of time if the service is ongoing.” 
  • The draft contemplates enforcement by the FTC and state attorneys general.  Notably — and in contrast to Rep. Rush's bill — the draft does not provide a privacy right of action for individuals who are affected by a violation. 
  • Nor does the bill specifically address the much-debated “Do Not Track” opt-out mechanism that was recommended in the FTC's recent staff report on consumer privacy.  (You can read our analysis of that report here.) 

As noted above, the draft is reportedly still a work in progress.  Inside Privacy will provide additional commentary on the Kerry legislation and other congressional privacy efforts as they develop.   

Press conference will be held tomorrow at 12:30 pm.  [Emphasis above is mine – Kim]

Readers of Identityblog will understand that I see this development, like so many others, as inevitable and predictable consequences of many short-sighted industry players breaking the Laws of Identity.

 

Published by

Kim Cameron

Work on identity.