Blog Post

Social networks — In the wake of Europe’s Article 29 Working Party Opinion on Social Network Providers adopted in June, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV) has sent out warning letters to five social networking providers in Germany, including Facebook and MySpace. The letters focus on the excessive rights the companies allow themselves in their respective Terms of Use agreements, and on shortcomings in the privacy policies. VZBV is comprised of 41 German consumer associations.

Self regulation — The Interactive Advertising Bureau has released its self-regulatory guidelines for online advertisers. There are some bright spots in the new guidelines. In the area of sensitive information, especially regarding health privacy, the guidelines are weak and need improvement. The IAB definition of sensitive health information is weaker than the definition of sensitive information already adopted by industry in the formal NAI agreement. Additionally, the new IAB guidelines rely on weak accountability standards. WPF urges the IAB to re-examine the sensitive health definition, provide more accountability, and to include consumer input in a meaningful way into the drafting process.

Social networking and EU — The Article 29 Working Party has adopted an important Opinion regarding social networking sites as of June 12. The opinion covers privacy, advertising, sensitive information, and other issues relating to online social networking. Regarding sensitive data, the Article 29 Working Party stated: “Data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade-union membership or data concerning health or sex life is considered sensitive. Sensitive personal data may only be published on the Internet with the explicit consent from the data subject or if the data subject has made the data manifestly public himself.” Regarding use of sensitive data to target advertising, the Article 29 opinion stated: “The Working Party recommends not using sensitive data in behavioral advertising models, unless all legal requirements are met.” The opinion also stated that the EU Data Protection Directive generally applies to the processing of personal data by social networking services, even when their headquarters are outside of the EEA, and that social networking service providers are considered data controllers under the Data Protection Directive.

TACD — The World Privacy Forum participated in the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue meetings in Brussels this June, and is pleased to announce that WPF is now a full member of the TACD. The TACD is a network of 80 EU and U.S. consumer organizations that develop joint consumer policy recommendations for the EU and U.S. in an effort to promote the consumer interest in transatlantic policymaking.

Data Breach of Health Records – FTC — The World Privacy Forum filed extensive comments with the Federal Trade Commission today regarding its notice of proposed rulemaking for data breaches of information containing actual health care information or health care-related information. The FTC rulemaking will apply to a variety of record holders, especially vendors of personal health records. The Forum supported much of the FTC’s proposed rulemaking, finding the rulemaking generally thoughtful and careful. In some areas, the Forum urged the FTC to narrow and further define and strengthen the proposed rule. The World Privacy Forum urged the FTC to tighten language around scope, the definition of “personal health record,” law enforcement delays of consumer notification, and urged the FTC to further clarify the definition of what falls under the category of “de-identified data.” Citing the research of Dr. LaTanya Sweeney and others, the Forum urged the FTC to require commercial companies and others holding health care data that has been partially de-identified to still report those breaches to the FTC and the public, and to monitor for re-identification.