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The White House big data reports “can serve...

The White House big data reports “can serve a very useful purpose if they refocus privacy discussions where they should be focused -- on actual harms to individuals,” said Technology Policy Institute (TPI) President Thomas Lenard in comments filed Tuesday…

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to NTIA (http://bit.ly/1v7HFTO). Tuesday evening was the deadline for stakeholders to submit comments to NTIA following the White House’s big data report release (CD May 2 p3), but as of our deadline, almost all major organizations told us they were still finalizing their comments. TPI’s comments said the White House report added to government and academic research that has “not found evidence of harms from the use of data for commercial and other non-surveillance purposes.” The White House report recommended restarting discussions over a broad consumer privacy legislative proposal, but asked NTIA to first seek comments on what such a proposal should entail. “If evidence of harm is found, the next question for policy makers would be whether there is a remedy available that reasonably can be expected to yield benefits greater than costs,” Lenard said. Other organizations -- including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Democracy & Technology, the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, the Direct Marketing Association, the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, the New America Foundation, Public Knowledge and TechFreedom -- told us they planned to either submit or sign on to comments by Tuesday evening’s deadline.