FTC Abandons Call for Stronger Privacy Laws

Anonymous Coward writes: "Found this article on CNN explaining that the FTC has decided to not seek stronger consumer privacy laws in the wake of the events of last month. The article also details how several companies broke their own privacy policies by voluntarily giving customer data to federal authorities." The NY Times has an article about this as well, with a couple of good comments from interested parties.

Comments

Freedom?

[psicE]

Bush constantly describes the terrorist attacks as being "attacks on freedom". Apparently, what he envisions as a free state is a 1984-esque totalitarian society, except that one can vote between two candidates who barely waver on the issues, and carry a gun. Is this really the only freedom we should be fighting for, and should we be prepared to give up all our other freedoms to try to kill bin Laden?

Re:Freedom?

[aozilla]

Hmm, that's an interesting viewpoint. Do you care to elaborate on what Bush has proposed which you see as 1984-esqe and totalitarian? Isn't freedom "the condition of being free from restraints"? Wouldn't these privacy laws put more restraints on people who happen to be running businesses? Privacy and freedom are two completely different concepts. Bush never called terrorist actions "attacks on privacy". Again, what freedom is Bush proposing to take away? The freedom to shave on an airplane? That's a freedom I'll gladly live without.

Glass Houses

[Alien54]

Since no one needs privacy, how about mandating that all houses be made of glass, and all clothing out of clear plastic?

Never mind that some people are ugly naked.

It isn't a public safety issue. People would learn to deal.