By Thomas Lenard
Published in The Hill on May 27, 2016
In a recent 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court struck a blow for a more rational and consumer-friendly privacy regime by coming down in favor of a “harms-based approach.” Although the opinion focused on standing rather than regulatory policy, agencies that enforce privacy regulations, such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission — the latter of which has proposed major new privacy regulations for ISPs — should take a lesson from the Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins decision.
The Spokeo case involved a complaint under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, where the plaintiff alleged that the information in his Spokeo profile was not accurate. The court ruled that inaccurate information in Spokeo’s database did not give the plaintiff standing to bring a case because “not all inaccuracies cause harm or present any material risk of harm.”
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/technology/281507-supreme-court-shows-the-way-on-privacy-regulations
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