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

Easy Answer

[PinkStainlessTail]

Ponemon, a privacy consultant, said he has been contacted by many companies -- such as banks and a national supermarket chain -- asking how they should tell consumers that they gave huge swaths of consumer data to law enforcement.

In the case of the supermarket chain it's pretty simple: "Hi. You know that personal information you were stupid enough to give us? Well, now the feds know how many ho-hos you ate last month. Fatty."

Re:Glass Houses

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree otherwise, but let's grant Cowboy Neal and RMS an exception.

They should keep clothes on at all times.

That's great

[kingpin2k]

So, companies were voluntarily giving data to the government in contradiction to their own policies. How comforting...I'm sure all of the terrorists were frequent bidders on eBay.

Re:Identity Theft

[ergo98]

NO NO NO NO NO! You see terrorists use login nicks like "IMA_TERRORIST" and they like to have English conversations saying terms like "blow-up" and "assassinate", and they're just looking forward to the day that the US releases backdoored encryption protocols so they can dump all those stupid ultra-secure foreign ones like Rijendael to install the return-of-clipper.

Re:Glass Houses

[siegesama]

...and all clothing out of clear plastic?
...It isn't a public safety issue.

Public safety? Are you kidding? Do you know how many automotive accidents that would cause?

Does this make the FTC a terrorist organization?

[Angst Badger]

Since the FTC has caved in to pressure from al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden to attack the rights of Americans, will the Defense Department be considering commando raids or bombing missions against FTC headquarters?

Sounds Like Old Times

[jazman_777]

We have to destroy the village to save it.