In a somewhat belated effort the Barack Obama administration is finally getting serious about privacy - and the recent behavior of Facebook and Google seems to have prodded the US into action.
Almost scandalously there is no actual law that protects a person in the US for their online privacy.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Obama administration is planning a watchdog and then more comprehensive policy to protect online privacy.
The media has started making a lot of noise (including Tnooz) recently about privacy, saying it it time for the Government to act on behalf of its individuals in its care. As the article points out poignantly:
“There is no comprehensive US law that protects consumer privacy online. Internet privacy issues generally are policed by the Federal Trade Commission, which can take action only if a privacy-violating action is deemed 'deceptive' or 'unfair'. That means the recent privacy crackdowns on Facebook Inc and Google Inc were led by Canada, Germany, the UK and other countries that have stronger privacy laws."
Of course, for Google and others such as Rapleaf to collect such in depth information without telling me is blatantly unfair - but it would seem not in the strict legal sense.
The click-through agreement never allows me to stop Google from collecting information about me. Perhaps we should lobby for the US to treat personal information gathering in the same way it treats telemarketers? I can always opt out.
In fact, I should be able to do that.
Today it is technically possible to prevent full information gathering, but it is so convoluted as to be beyond the skills of all but the most rabid techno-privacy geek.
So what about the case of the UK, after Google was forced to come clean on StreetView? All it got was a virtual and feeble slap on the wrist. No fine. No punishment.
Will the US Government go further and put teeth into the policy and its execution? Actually, the US government has been here before during the Clinton era. Then it was policy, but without anything like the European model on enforcement.
But there are grumblings. The IAB, the US group that is the pressure body for online advertising, says it already adhere to a strict code of conduct.
Meanwhile, privacy advocates like Jeff Chester, founder of the Center for Digital Democracy, have expressed disappointment that the government isn't going far enough.
He believes, after meeting with the US Commerce Dept, that the policy will rely on industry self-regulation.
Europe is very different - the onus is definitely on the transgressor to do better. So far in the US, self regulation hasn’t done much except spawn the excesses noted above. Sometimes the government has to step up in these matters.