Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights doesn't go far enough, critics say

The White House published a draft of the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Act three years in the making late February, but not all privacy advocacy groups are satisfied. In a letter to President Barack Obama, representatives from US privacy and technology groups Center for Democracy and Technology, Consumer Watchdog, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge and others expressed concern that the draft bill doesn’t go far enough to protect consumers.

The groups criticized the draft bill for not adequately defining “what constitutes sensitive information,” not being clear about whether it protects large categories of information like geolocation data, allowing companies to retain user data indefinitely for criminal investigations without placing clear limits on data retention for that purpose, and not offering heightened protection for information about children and teens. In addition, the organizations take issue with being left out of consultations.