White House Proposes A Privacy Rights Bill

The Obama administration released a draft of proposed privacy legislation that would allow industries to establish codes of conduct and create review boards to be overseen by the FTC. The “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” also challenges companies to explain privacy and security policies “in concise and easily understandable language,” and allow consumers to see, amend, and delete information collected about them. The draft saw immediate blowback from consumer groups and some Democrats. “[W]e need uniform and legally-enforceable rules that companies must abide by and consumers can rely upon,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told the Wall Street Journal, rather than “codes of conduct developed by industries that have historically been opposed to strong security measures.”