The President stopped in at the Federal Trade Commission yesterday and announced several new privacy initiatives in advance of his State of the Union Address.
The substance of these aside, the President’s announcement shows what a core part of the political agenda privacy has become.
One of the main points that the President made was that he wanted to improve consumer confidence by reducing identity theft. As pointed out in the CyberSide Chat regarding “The Business Case for Privacy”, concerns over identity theft are the top privacy concern consumers have. The main component of the President’s agenda is federal data breach legislation, which calls for notice within 30 days of discovery of a breach, which is a shorter period of time than most state data breach laws. It is also significantly less time than the standard under existing federal laws, such as HIPAA, which requires notice in 60 days.
The President also announced that several companies have committed to provide consumers their credit report for free to enable them to detect identity theft. The President also focused on student privacy, a topic which several state legislatures addressed last year. Technology was also a core issue addressed by the President, as he also addressed technology and the Internet of Things. There are initiatives focused on Smart Grid, including creating a voluntary code of conduct, as well as creating a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, something that has been proposed in the past. One interesting issue to consider in the context of the Bill of Rights proposal is whether that proposal ultimately gains traction and incorporates some of the recent work by the Federal Trade Commission, including on topics such as data brokers and IoT.
While it is unclear whether the President’s agenda will be taken up by Congress, it is clear that privacy is an issue that is here to stay.