More Companies Need to Get on the Privacy Bandwagon

FPF Co-chairs Chris Wolf and Jules Polonetsky presented today at the Online Trust Alliance (OTA) Forum. Wolf moderated the panel, “View from the Hill; Legislation Landscape & Regulatory Concerns- Looking into the Crystal Ball.” The panel captured the view that while there will most likely be no privacy and data stewardship legislation this year, self-regulatory organizations certified by the FTC may play a greater role. In a separate panel on competing best business practices, Justin Brookman, Director at the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) advocated for baseline privacy legislation based on the notion that “without standards, it is really hard for companies to compete on privacy.” “There should be industry wide standards. We can’t expect any one actor to be the good guy,” Brookman said. Fran Maier, President of TRUSTe, stated that the current standard is similar to a “carrot and stick approach,” where the threat of the stick through compliance efforts has motivated positive changes in the industry. “But, there are still a lot of companies that haven’t been taking initiative,” she said.