Intellectual Property Law

New Group Enters Privacy Debate

By Tim Armstrong, Derek Bambauer, and William McGeveran.

A new privacy advocacy organization called the Future of Privacy Forum, funded by AT&T, has debuted in Washington. I might have assumed it would be another industry-driven group seeking to prevent serious policy changes, except that I have a lot of personal respect for its leadership. The director, Jules Polonetsky has a long history of working in both government and industry for sensible privacy rules. (And of course, like me, he once worked for then-Rep. Chuck Schumer!) The members of the advisory board include leading scholars and advocates such as Dan Solove, Paul Schwartz, Simon Davies, and Chris Hoofnagle, among others.

And the new group’s policy agenda sounds pretty good, culminating in this rather grand statement:

FPF will advocate for privacy advances that are business practical, but that substantially raise the bar to ensure personal autonomy for all who seek to embrace the benefits of our digital society. We will seek to work with industry, advocates and policymakers to ensure the future of privacy is one where we are not enslaved by our data, but rather where data serves the benefit of humankind.

It will be interesting to see how the FPF pursues its mission and how it fits in with existing industry initiatives as well as established advocacy groups like the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Full post as published by Info/Law on November 18, 2008 (boomark / email).