Web giants tagged for privacy audits

Tired of waiting for Congress to pass a law protecting consumer privacy online, cyber advocates have persuaded federal regulators to take matters into their own hands: They’ve sentenced Web giants like Facebook and Google to 20 years of privacy audits and other sanctions.

The Federal Trade Commission’s proposed settlement with Facebook last month is the latest example of the watchdog agency protecting privacy online under long-existing trade rules. Facebook allegedly mishandled sensitive data from more than 800 million users, and the FTC crafted a lengthy punishment to fit the crime. The FTC has been buoyed by online privacy advocates, who have brought the initial complaints that some of the biggest Web companies had violated their own privacy policies by failing to safeguard user data or sharing it against consumer wishes with other users, advertisers or third-party apps. Privacy advocates have chalked up countless examples of Internet giants crossing the line with tools that surreptitiously track users’ locations, recognize their faces and recall their personal interests. But while members of Congress have discussed online privacy at countless hearings and drafted a number of bills over the years, a mix of congressional politics, a difficult calendar and industry lobbying has prevented legislation from making it to the floor. The onus for online privacy protections has instead fallen to federal agencies, which have advanced the conversation with their own policy papers, public statements and enforcement actions. Chiefly pushing the envelope is the FTC. Amid work on a final set of online privacy guidelines, the agency has handed down landmark settlements targeting the Internet’s biggest names — including Google and Facebook this year, and Twitter in 2010 — as well as a bevy of smaller advertisers and smart phone apps.