Comments filed with the Office of Science and Technology Policy on “Big Data Request for Information”
The familiar remedies often suggested to address perceived privacy issues are ill-suited…
Privacy and Security
Questions about privacy are central to the digital economy. We study how much people value privacy, the privacy paradox, and developments in state and federal privacy legislation. Our work has contributed to policy discussions of data portability, data regulation, and advertising models.
Comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission on “Customer Proprietary Network Information”
The assertion in a recent petition by public interest groups that it…
Claim that Anonymization is Impossible Unsupported
The assertion in a recent petition by public interest groups that it is impossible to anonymize data does not stand up to scrutiny, states Technology Policy Institute President Thomas Lenard in comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission. The agency should not base any decisions on this faulty analysis, which could have broader implications beyond sharing of customer proprietary network information (CPNI).
The Big Data Revolution: Privacy Considerations
Attachments The Big Data Revolution: Privacy Considerations
Event – The Big Data Revolution: Privacy Considerations
The Information Technology revolution has produced a data revolution-now commonly referred to as “big data”-in which massive amounts of data can be collected, stored and analyzed at relatively low cost. While the benefits of big data are numerous, from tracking health risks to helping consumers find the lowest prices on goods and services, the emergence of big data has also raised privacy concerns on the part of advocates and government officials. To alleviate these concerns, some are calling for remedies to either restrict or make more transparent how data are collected and used. Speakers at the event will discuss the big data revolution, proposed remedies for privacy concerns and their potential effects, including the findings in the recent paper, “The Big Data Revolution: Privacy Considerations,” authored by TPI’s Thomas Lenard and Paul Rubin.
The Big Data Revolution: Privacy Considerations
The “familiar” privacy remedies that would limit the re-use and sharing of…
No Evidence of Privacy Harms from “Big Data”
There is no evidence that the use of “big data” for commercial and other non-surveillance purposes has caused privacy harms according to a new paper, “The Big Data Revolution: Privacy Considerations,” by Technology Policy Institute’s Thomas Lenard and Paul Rubin. Moreover, the familiar remedies embodied in the Fair Information Privacy Practices (FIPPs) are ill-suited to the world of big data and are potentially a serious barrier to much of the innovation we hope to see from the big data revolution.
Chairman Rockefeller and Data Brokers
Chairman Rockefeller recently sent letters to a dozen different companies seeking information…
The FTC Then and Now: Privacy
A critique of the Federal Trade Commission’s recent approach to online privacy issues by the Technology Policy Institute’s Thomas Lenard and Paul Rubin is included in the new book The Regulatory Revolution at the FTC: A Thirty-Year Perspective on Competition and Consumer Protection. The book, edited by James C. Cooper of George Mason University School of Law, is a collection of essays by leading scholars and officials on how economics-based policymaking at the Commission has laid the groundwork for sensible consumer protection and antitrust regulations. Lenard and Rubin analyze the FTC’s recent privacy reports through the prism of the “regulatory revolution” at the FTC thirty years ago and find the current approach wanting in terms of yielding net benefits for consumers.
Aspen Panel: Privacy, Data Security and Trade – Policy Choices
Europe and the U.S. have distinctly different approaches to data and online privacy. In Europe, privacy is considered a fundamental right, a concept reflected in EU draft general data protection regulation currently under consideration. The U.S. is increasingly relying on multistakeholder processes, such as the ones at the W3C and the NTIA to try to develop consensus standards around which various groups can coalesce. How will the different approaches to data protection be reconciled? How will they play out in the context of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations involving trade in digital goods and cross-border data flows? How will the recent revelations about the PRISM surveillance program complicate negotiation and cooperation going forward? Participants on the panel “Privacy, Data Security and Trade – Policy Choices” at this year’s TPI Aspen Forum will give their views on these issues.