FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 10, 2014 San Diego — The World Privacy Forum is urging parents and college students to exercise their right to “opt out” of schools sharing their personal directory information with third parties. “The beginning of the school year is a key time when the school information opt-out period opens up,” explained

We have updated our popular Top Ten Opt Out list with new links and additional information. From key data brokers to credit cards, If you are wondering where to start to get off of lists and whisk your sensitive information out of circulation, we have distilled the most important opt outs to a manageable size. We have included the key opt outs that we ourselves practice with links and tips.

This Jan. 30, 2014 report discusses a new right to restrict disclosure of health information under the updated HIPAA health privacy rule. The new provision called “Pay Out of Pocket,” also called the “Right to Restrict Disclosure” gives patients the right to request that their health care provider not report or disclose their information to their health plans when they pay for medical services in full. Navigating the new right will take effort and planning for patients to utilize effectively. This substance of this report is about the new patient right to restrict disclosure, and how patients can use it to protect health privacy.

Data Broker opt out — WPF, in 2011 comments to the FTC, urged the FTC to create a centralized place for consumers to opt-out of data broker tracking. This is a long-standing issue WPF has worked on. Previously, WPF filed a petition in 2009 to the FTC regarding mail-in data broker opt outs, which resulted in an FTC action and improvements for consumers. In its new report published today, the FTC has picked up WPF’s centralized opt out recommendation, specifically citing WPF’s comments. From its report: “The Commission recommends that the data broker industry explore the idea of creating a centralized website where data brokers that compile and sell data for marketing could identify themselves to consumers and describe how they collect consumer data and disclose the types of companies to which they sell the information.” The WPF strongly supports this idea and views assistance to consumers in this area as vital.

Facial recognition | Digital signage — The World Privacy Forum filed extensive comments to the FTC today following up on Pam Dixon’s testimony at a December 2011 FTC facial recognition privacy workshop. The WPF comments noted that “A walk-out opt-out is not a viable way of managing consumer consent in the area of facial recognition or detection technologies.” The comments discussed the importance of recognizing the Face Print as a unique biometric, and also discussed the need for finding ways of consumer consent that are reasonable. Given the ubiquity of cameras in some retail and public spaces, just walking away will become less and less of an option for consumers going forward, the comments argued. The comments also included the WPF’s ground breaking report, The One-Way Mirror Society, and the joint Consumer Privacy Principles for Digital Signage.These principles were signed by the nation’s leading privacy and consumer groups.