Just a few moments ago, in their own words: "The Commerce Department Office of the Secretary, leveraging the expertise of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration ("NTIA"), the Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO"), the National Institute of Standards and Technology ("NIST"), and the International Trade Administration ("ITA"), has created an Internet Policy Task Force to conduct a comprehensive review of the nexus between privacy policy, copyright, global free flow of information, cybersecurity, and innovation in the Internet economy." That introduction prefaced the release by the NTIA of its "Green Paper" (which you can download and read), Commercial Data Privacy and Innovation in the Internet Economy: A Dynamic Policy Framework. The Federal Register notice of this paper will seek public comments, noting that they will be due on or before January 28, 2011.
While Legal Bytes and Rimon will digest the report more thoroughly and report to you in the days and weeks ahead, the report at first blush focuses on four major themes:
- Support for Fair Information Practices Principles (FIPPS), noting the need and importance of greater transparency, consumer control and data security
- Support for self regulation
- Creation of a national Privacy Policy Office to coordinate voluntary, enforceable, self-regulatory programs
- The need for greater harmonization of privacy laws and self regulation internationally
Stay tuned for further information and analysis, but if you want to be part of the conversation; if you feel you should have a voice in the discussion and are considering submitting comments; or if you simply want to better understand the implications, the interplay between this report and the recently released FTC report (see Protecting Consumer Privacy – FTC Issues Staff Report)posted on Legal Bytes December 2, 2010), please don’t hesitate to contact me, Joe Rosenbaum, or any of the Rimon attorneys with whom you regularly work.