Internet companies should be more liable for data says Executives

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 11 November 2010, 13:52 IST
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Washington: With more and more people accessing the internet and the comparatively less informed they are about privacy implications, the internet firms which deal with the mass of personal data collected from users to guard against cybercrime should be more accountable for it, says executives of various organizations at the Family Online Safety Institute's annual conference, reports Reuters. "Information is the currency of growth, but it's also increasingly become the currency of crime," said Peter Cullen, Chief Privacy Strategist of Microsoft. He pointed out that people have very high expectations when it comes to companies in terms of how they collect, use, store and most importantly protect their information. Cullen also added that companies must embrace themselves to high standards when handling consumers' personal information and devote more in internal structures to guarantee privacy of data. Companies such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Microsoft accumulate personal data that is often used in marketing or passed on to third parties without users' knowledge. Michael Fertik, founder of the online reputation-management company Reputation Defender, called for U.S. regulations that consent opt-in defaults to give consumers greater control of their "digital dossier." "It's remarkable how deep the data sets are about each of us, and it's disturbing," said Fertik, mentioning websites that track users' locations. He propagated limits on how long companies can keep personal data on consumers, cautioning that over time the data could be used beyond advertising, such as evaluating health care premiums based on how often a person visits fast food restaurants. He also added that companies that make a lion's share of their revenue in advertising have a very appalling pressure between that economic incentive and your privacy interests. Mobile devices are also increasingly being used to access the Internet and the Commerce Department has reported recently about a seven-fold surge in high speed Internet subscribers between 2001 and 2009. With more and more data getting online and people usually ignorant about bounding to privacy, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is making proposals for privacy laws, and telecommunications analysts predict bipartisan support on the matter. Amy Mushahwar, a data privacy and security attorney at Reed Smith LLP pointed out that the matter is a much less partisan issue that still has the potential for movement.