'Information Fiduciary' would regulate Facebook without going through Congress

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We’re trusting services like Facebook with our data, and that trust should come with concrete legal responsibilities. To make that happen, Yale Law professor Jack Balkin proposes designating cloud providers as “information fiduciaries,” binding them an industry-wide code of conduct modeled after similar designations in law, medicine, and finance. In the abstract, the rule would require Facebook and other companies to not act against user’s interest, leaving courts to decide the penalties when they do. Crucially, Balkin’s fiduciary rule could be put in place by any number of agencies, including state-level legislatures, letting privacy advocates sidestep Congress entirely.


'Information Fiduciary' would regulate Facebook without going through Congress