FTC's Rich Plugs Legislation, Pledges to Protect Privacy

In a speech at a National Cyber Security Alliance kick-off event for Data Privacy Day, the Federal Trade Commission's Jessica Rich, director of the Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, put in a plug for data privacy and security legislation. However, she said that the FTC will continue to work hard to inform and protect consumers. That includes new online parental guidelines, a report on data brokers and a 2014 agenda focused on big data, mobile, and protecting sensitive data.

FTC Commissioner Rich outlined the clear benefits of data collection and use, from providing discounts on purchases to social networking, saying it had made life easier in a myriad of ways. But the FTC will treat every day as Data Privacy Day because of the serious consequences about how that data could be accessed and for what purposes, she said. The same information that allowed someone to track their fitness or entertain themselves, or get a job or do their banking remotely, can be collected and sold to data brokers, aggregated into profiles that may paint an inaccurate portrait and can affect their ability to get a loan or insurance, or be resold to third -- or fourth -- parties over which they have no control.