Tech trade group questions FTC privacy settlements

A technology industry trade group that counts Google, eBay and Microsoft among its members questioned the length of recent privacy settlements reached by the Federal Trade Commission with firms accused of violating consumers' privacy.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association issued a statement in response to the settlement between Facebook and the FTC that requires the social network to implement a comprehensive privacy program and submit to 20 years of outside privacy audits. A similar settlement between Google and the FTC earlier this year covers the same time frame. “Regardless of the merits of this latest settlement, we have some concern that the 20 year oversight provisions seem to be becoming the norm. This may be unnecessarily long when dealing with dynamic companies that have competitive reasons to be responsive to the privacy demands of their customers," said CCIA president Ed Black.