Public Policy

The World Privacy Forum submitted comments to the Securities and Exchange Commission today requesting that the SEC do more to protect the privacy of consumers’ asset information. Asset information — the financial information attached to mortgages, car loans, and other consumer borrowing activities– is very attractive to the consumer data industry. We would be happier with the current SEC proposal if it were practical to keep all sensitive asset-level data under the direct control of the Commission or, perhaps, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Direct involvement by a federal agency, while no guarantee of a better outcome for data subjects, would provide better and clearer accountability for maintenance of the data as well as the possibility of meaningful enforcement.

This resource page is a curated list of WPF public comments to agencies, as well as other public comments focused on privacy.

India’s national biometric ID card — In the May/June, 2013 issue of Foreign Policy Magazine, Pam Dixon writes about the privacy issues related to India’s national biometric ID card. In the piece, Mission Creep, Dixon discusses how government-issued biometric ID cards that serve as national ID cards and as the basis for employment and financial transactions create profound civil liberties and privacy challenges that are neither easily or well-constrained by government policy.

Commercial drone privacy – In comments filed with the FAA, the World Privacy Forum urged the agency to establish a robust privacy committee to focus on drone privacy and to clarify the applicability of the Privacy Act of 1974 to UAS test site operators. WPF also requested the FAA conduct mandatory Privacy Impact Assessments and provide a FIPS-compliant privacy notice. ”We have offered our comments to the FAA with the acknowledgement that everyone has much to learn in the area of commercial drone privacy. Our suggestions to the FAA seek to increase general knowledge about drones and their effect on privacy,” said Pam Dixon.

Privacy in India and Developing Economies — World Privacy Forum Executive Director Pam Dixon will present WPF’s research and India privacy videos at the FTC – IAPP Global Privacy Conference workshop Wednesday, March 7. The session, Global Perspectives on Consumer Privacy, is the first session of its kind at IAPP or the FTC focused on privacy in developing economies. WPF has researched privacy extensively in India, and has documented a number of key privacy issues in a video series. So far, 5 videos in the series have been released. All of the videos were shot on location in India and feature Pam Dixon, with videographer Blake Hamilton. These videos offer a rare and early glimpse into privacy interactions and issues in India. WPF will be releasing one more video on biometric ID cards in India.