Privacy Please: FTC to Release Report

The Federal Trade Commission will release its final report
on a framework for protecting privacy Monday (March 26), according to the FTC,
which has scheduled a press conference to announce it.

That is the report it first teed up back in December 2010
when it first solicited comment on a staff draft report, "Protecting
Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses
and Policymakers."

That proceeding was launched on its own initiative, and is
not to be confused with its recommendations for updating the Children's Online
Privacy Protection Act, which will also cover a number of privacy issues,
including targeted marketing and mobile apps.

FTC's report will be following fairly closely on the heels
of the Commerce Department/White House announcement of support for a voluntary
privacy bill of rights and voluntary do-not-track regime, which came in its own
final report on the final work product of a Commerce green paper on privacy,
also issued in December 2010.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.