Consumer Groups Say Proposed US Privacy Bill Is Flawed

A long-awaited draft of a Congressional bill would extend privacy protections both on the Internet and off line, but privacy advocates said the bill did not go far enough in protecting consumers.The draft legislation was released Tuesday by Representatives Rick Boucher, Democrat of Virginia, and Cliff Stearns, Republican of Florida. Mr. Boucher is the chairman of the House subcommittee on communications, technology and the Internet, and Mr. Stearns is the panel’s ranking minority member. The two lawmakers will collect comments on the draft, and hope to have formal legislation introduced within a month or so, Mr. Boucher said in an interview.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/business/media/05adco.htmlAlso see:House privacy bill draws fire from all sides
Rep. Rick Boucher, a Democrat from rural Virginia, has been unsuccessfully pushing for Internet privacy legislation for a very long time. In 1999, he proposed a bill that would give regulators more power over commercial Web sites, and he cosponsored the Consumer Privacy Protection Act in 2005.That history probably didn’t prepare Boucher for the almost uniformly hostile reception his latest legislative effort, a still-unnamed discussion draft regulating data collection efforts, received on Tuesday.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20004165-38.htmlPrivacy Groups Blast Draft Privacy Bill
A group of privacy advocates expressed strong disappointment with draft privacy legislation unveiled Tuesday by the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee, with some saying it might be worse than the status quo.While some of the groups praised Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va. for at least tackling the issue of online privacy, they cited several troubling provisions including the fact that the measure would bar consumers from suing companies for privacy breaches, pre-empt state laws, does not include limits on data retention, fails to address data breaches and offers too many loopholes for online behavioral advertising and for transactional and operational data such as Web logs.
http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2010/05/privacy-groups-blast-draft-pri.phpUS lawmakers publish internet privacy bill
A new law has been proposed that mandates information to be given to website visitors to improve privacy protections in the US. It also lists types of data that can be used until people opt out, and others that can be used only with their consent.The proposal has been published by members of the House of Representatives, Rick Boucher and Cliff Stearns, who are on the House’s Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet. They claim it will offer better protection to users from the increased processing of data demanded by the growing use of behavioural advertising.
http://out-law.com/page-10993Boucher Releases Draft Privacy Bill
House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., Tuesday released draft privacy legislation that would require Web sites to provide enhanced notice about how they use consumer information and obtain a user’s consent before collecting sensitive information or sharing data about a consumer with some third parties.
http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2010/05/boucher-releases-draft-privacy.phpLawmakers unveil online privacy bill [IDG]
Two U.S. lawmakers have released a draft bill that would require companies that collect personal information from customers to disclose how they collect and share that information, but several privacy and consumer groups said the proposal would legalize current privacy violations online.The draft legislation, released Tuesday by Representatives Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat, and Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican, would apply to information collected online and off.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9176311/Lawmakers_unveil_online_privacy_bill
http://www.pcworld.com/article/195578/.html