Industry Group Representing Apple, Google, Amazon and Others Releases User Privacy Framework to Guide Policymakers

[MacRumors]

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), a technology lobbying group that represents companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook, and more, today released a framework for regulations to protect user privacy.

The ITI's guidelines [PDF] are designed to provide information and guidance for policymakers both in the United States and abroad as they tackle the issue of data privacy online.

The purpose of this framework is to inform the development of legislation or the promulgation of rules that enhance personal data protection, further the trust relationship between companies and their customers, and enable innovation while also avoiding regulatory fragmentation that undermines all three goals.

Inspired by Europe's General Data Protection Regulation and privacy protections put in place in other countries, the document suggests individuals should have full rights to control the use of their personal data, and is built on the following principles:

Enhance Transparency. The framework ensures individuals are informed when their personal data is collected or used so they have a better understanding of what they are or are not consenting to.

Increase Consumer Control. The framework gives individuals the right to expressly and affirmatively consent to the use of their sensitive personal data, and further allows individuals to access, correct, port, delete, and object to the use of their personal data where it is appropriate to the context of the use of such personal data.

Establish Company Accountability and Expands Responsibility. The framework lays out clear mechanisms for regulators to hold companies responsible for their data practices, including recommending subjecting companies in violation of a national privacy law to a meaningful penalty on the first offense. It also requires companies to identify, monitor and document uses of known personal data, and ensure all uses are legitimate as defined by that law.

Promotes Security. The framework mandates companies put into place comprehensive security programs that support and protect their operations, activities and the sensitive information they control.

The text of the document was drafted after "dozens" of meetings with outside groups and policymakers, as well as experts from some of the ITI's member companies, ITI president Dean Garfield told Axios. He says that the framework goes "deeper" than other privacy proposals that have been developed.

The ITI is hoping the framework will serve as a model for governments worldwide and a "workable alternative" to a "patchwork of laws" that could ultimately lead to uncertainty over the protections that individual consumers are entitled to.

The ITI's full document with a complete list of suggested guidelines for government reference can be viewed on its website.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Industry Group Representing Apple, Google, Amazon and Others Releases User Privacy Framework to Guide Policymakers

 

[Williesleg]

Yeah that should end well.

Time to move off the cloud.

 

[now i see it]

a little late after untold billions of users have had their personal lives slurped up and sold.
Perhaps it's a gesture of good will, but the data miners got everything they wanted these last twenty years.

 

[Tapiture]

Pretty hilarious that Google and Facebook support an advocacy group for private data protection. These are the most anti-privacy companies I can think of. Not to mention they get hacked every other week.

 

[velocityg4]

This is like asking the fox how to guard the hen house.

 

[Hastings101]

This is like asking the fox how to guard the hen house.

Well to be fair the hens don’t do a very good job at it

 

[patrickbarnes]

“Guide”... *wink wink*

 

[tridley68]

I don't use the cloud for anything don't trust it and never will.

 

[asiga]

[...] a technology lobbying group that represents companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook, and more, today released a framework for regulations to protect user privacy [...]

If users were allowed to completely disable sending any of their data from their devices, all these 5 companies (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook) would cease business immediately, or would need to move their business from online services to real products. The only exception of the 5 could perhaps be Microsoft, because of their software sales. But Apple would suffer a severe loss if iCloud wasn't required for getting a complete experience from your devices and if iOS didn't send any of your data (no matter if it's anonimized, but your data anyway), Google wouldn't even exist without your data, Amazon wouldn't sell a penny without your data, and Facebook is about making your private life public. So... how can you trust this "fantastic five" team?

The single fact that these companies, who make their business from our data, are pretending to look privacy-respectful is more or less the same as communism talking about freedom: by talking a lot about freedom, they try to build an image around freedom. These "fantastic five" are just doing the same, but with the "privacy" word instead.

 

[DipDog3]

How about just pay me $100,000 each time my information is stolen. If you don’t want to pay, then don’t keep my info.

 

[bobenhaus]

Yeah right. Apple the little Internet Angel that protects the innocent children of the world. It's all BS and don't be gullible.

 

[stylinexpat]

Pretty hilarious that Google and Facebook support an advocacy group for private data protection. These are the most anti-privacy companies I can think of. Not to mention they get hacked every other week.

Fast forward to today and we can see that Google does not really support private data protection. See article below for more info on this. If you thought China was bad and thought Huawei was bad for supposedly working with the Government in China you are in for reality in America.

Naomi Klein: How big tech plans to profit from the pandemic

The long read: As the coronavirus continues to kill thousands each day, tech companies are seizing the opportunity to extend their reach and power

www.theguardian.com