Reposted from my colleague Prof. Heng Xu:
President Obama spoke on privacy at FTC this noon. Here is his speech (starts from the 46th minute):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m60poYIwTfc#t=38
He mentioned several new steps for privacy protection:
1. Introducing new legislation to create a single, strong
national standard so Americans know when their information has been
stolen or misused. Companies
would have to notify consumers of a breach within 30 days.
2. Encouraging more companies to offer credit reports for free.
3. Introducing a consumer privacy bill of rights,
identifying principles to protect personal privacy and ensure that
industry can keep innovating. For example,
consumers have the right to decide what personal data companies collect
from them, and how companies use that data. The right to know that your
personal information collected for one purpose can’t then be misused by
a company for a different purpose. The right
to have your information stored securely by companies that are
accountable for its use. There ought to be some basic baseline
protections across industries.
4. Taking a series of actions to protect the privacy of
children. Proposing student digital privacy act. Data collected on
students in the classroom should
only be used for educational purposes, to teach our children, not to
market to our children. Prevent companies from selling student data to
third parties for purposes other than education. Prevent any kind of
profiling that outs certain students as disadvantages
as they go through school.
