The Obama administration feels your pain -- at least when it comes to Internet privacy.
To prove its point, the administration has released a privacy "bill of rights" that it hopes companies such as Google and Facebook will adopt to better ensure that users are able to safeguard their personal info.
"American consumers can’t wait any longer for clear rules of the road that ensure their personal information is safe online," Obama said in a statement. "By following this blueprint, companies, consumer advocates and policymakers can help protect consumers and ensure the Internet remains a platform for innovation and economic growth."
Fine and dandy. Except for a couple of things.
First, the White House's privacy guidelines are just that -- guidelines. They're voluntary, and companies can still decide how much (or little) privacy protection to offer users.
But the bigger issue here is the lack of an opt-in provision. As it stands, the administration's privacy bill of rights would still require people to opt out of having their personal info used or shared by websites.
"Companies should offer consumers means to withdraw or limit consent that are as accessible and easily used as the methods for granting consent in the first place," the guidelines say.
That's not good enough. If politicians and businesses want to truly empower consumers to protect their privacy, websites should be required to ask for permission before accessing people's data.
The default position shouldn't be that permission is automatically granted until a consumer says otherwise.
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