Jeff Chester

A pilot program designed to enable the tens of millions of Americans who participate in the US Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to buy groceries online is exposing them to a loss of their privacy through increased data collection and surveillance, as well as risks involving intrusive and manipulative online marketing techniques. Online grocers and retailers use an orchestrated array of digital techniques—including granular data profiling, predictive analytics, geolocation tracking, personalized online coupons, AI and machine learning —to promote u

[Commentary] The Internet service providers and ad-industry lobbyists disingenuously claim that having the Federal Trade Commission protect consumer privacy for all Internet companies, including ISPs and data giants like Google, is the most effective approach. It would be so, perhaps, if the FTC had any real clout.

The ISPs, data-marketing companies and their supporters are also fighting against the privacy rule because they know we are also on the eve of a new era — the Internet of Things — that will generate even more personal information about us. In today’s digital era, data is power. That’s why we shouldn’t let Congress and the broadband companies overturn the first real protections we can have. This will be an opportunity to challenge Donald Trump’s vision of the United States as principally a corporatist society where the welfare of commercial special interests is more important than the needs of the average American.

[Jeff Chester is executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a Washington-D.C.-based consumer digital rights group.]

Personal health wearable devices that consumers are using to monitor their heart rates, sleep patterns, calories, and even stress levels raise new privacy and security risks. Watches, fitness bands, and so-called “smart” clothing, linked to apps and mobile devices, are part of a growing “connected-health” system in the U.S., promising to provide people with more efficient ways to manage their own health. But while consumers may think that federal laws will protect their personal health information collected by wearables, the report found that the weak and fragmented health-privacy regulatory system fails to provide adequate safeguards. This report provides an overview and analysis of the major features, key players, and trends that are shaping the new consumer-wearable and connected-health marketplace.