Of Data Brokers, FTC’s Brill Says ‘Let’s Deal with Low Hanging Fruit First’
FTC Commissioner Julie Brill suggested that the commission first deal with the practices of data brokers who recognize themselves as such, before delving into issues of defining who is and isn’t a data broker. Neither she nor the commission as a whole knows enough about data brokers’ collection practices now, she said Tuesday at a Broadband Breakfast Club event. Brill was asked to specify “who fits into the definition of data broker” and what action the FTC is contemplating in that area.
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There are a lot of companies that recognize they are data brokers and offer consumers “some choices about the data they are collecting,” Brill said. “So let’s deal with the low hanging fruit first.” The commission would like to get companies that call themselves data brokers to “engage in more transparent activities,” such as having a website or portal where consumers can go to find collection information and “what kind of access collection rights that that entity offers,” she said. “Then we can start to talk about drawing the lines -- where the gray areas are [and] who is on which side of the line,” as the commission gets enough information about collection practices, she said.
"I think there is slow but sure progress being made” in the “do not track” arena, Brill said. “There are members of the industry who recognize that they need to address this issue and are trying very hard to address it.” The Digital Advertising Alliance, for instance, has principles dealing with “collection limitation,” she said. Brill said she believes there’s “consensus around the notion that there needs to be some kind of collection limitation.” The issue is more of “where to draw those boundaries,” she said.
Brill said she hoped employers who seek prospective employees’ passwords for Facebook and other social media sites will “get the message” as “states start to look at the issue and maybe this activity will tamp down.” Maryland recently passed legislation prohibiting such practices and a few other states are also weighing the issue, she said. “My concern in this space is that I am not sure we have laws currently in the books at the federal level that would address this issue.” The issue has drawn the attention of the National Labor Relations Board, she said.
The FTC will host a workshop at the end of May to address issues such as how to make mobile privacy disclosures “short, effective and accessible to consumers on a small screen,” Brill said. The expectation is that the meeting will “spur further industry self-regulation in the area.” A workshop planned for the second half of this year will explore privacy and other issues related to the “potential for comprehensive tracking” by ISPs, operating systems, social media, browsers and others, she said.