Welcome to our Spyware and Privacy News Archives section. Here
you will find links to additional information and up to date news
and editorial articles about regarding-line privacy. This section
is a supplement to our other sections which have lots of great
information about privacy, legal rights, and unethical advertising
practices. We hope that you will enjoy checking out the remainder
of our site to find out how more information about scammers and
advertisers are collecting data on consumers and stealing web
traffic and how web site owners can protect themselves. Since
many legal cases take months or years to complete the stories
are picked up and continued in other months as the case develops
and progresses.
(Update: Newsbytes.com has been taken over by the Washington
Post Company. The links to articles that were in the Newsbytes
archives are no longer active. Many of the articles are still
available on line through other news sources. Please feel free
to search google for additional links to articles originally
appearing on Newsbytes.
October 1999
Final FTC Kids Privacy Rule Draws Approval of Industry Groups,
Advocates
The Federal Trade Commission has issued the final version
of its rule to implement the Children's Online Privacy Protection
Act of 1998. The final rule adopts a "sliding scale"
under which children's Web site operators will have to obtain
stricter forms of consent for more sensitive uses of personal
information. For less sensitive uses of personal information,
companies will be able to obtain parental consent via e-mail
as long as additional steps to confirm the identity of the
parent are taken. October 22, 1999.
August 1999
10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Rejects FCC Privacy Rules
A decision by the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver
has vacated a federal rule governing the use of personal information
by telecommunications companies. The Consumer Proprietary
Network Information regulations promulgated by the Federal
Communications Commission in 1998 require companies to obtain
permission from customers before using personal information
to market additional services. The decision found that the
government had not met three important standards used in previous
cases to restrict free speech. August 31, 1999.
July 1999
FTC Says Congress Should Stand Down On Privacy Online
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recommended that Congress
hold off passing laws to regulate Internet privacy in a report
reviewing the progress of self-regulation over the past year.
The report cited the efforts online businesses have made in
posting policies and joining self-regulatory programs. In
testimony before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications,
Trade and Consumer Protection, FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky
said the industry's present challenge "is to educate
those companies which still do not understand the importance
of consumer privacy and to create incentives for further progress
toward effective, widespread implementation." July 13,
1999.
June 1999
DoubleClick To Acquire Abacus in $1 Billion Deal
By Gary Gately
E-Commerce Times
June 14, 1999
In a move to create an online marketing and advertising powerhouse,
Internet advertiser DoubleClick, Inc. (Nasdaq: DCLK) has agreed
to acquire market research firm Abacus Direct Corp. (Nasdaq:
ABDR) in a $1 billion ($US) stock swap. The companies said
Monday that the deal, subject to approval from regulators
and stockholders, would provide more efficient, targeted and
measurable marketing and advertising through the Internet
and other media. The deal, the companies said, "will
create the worldwide leader in online advertising and database
marketing." Abacus provides information to the direct-marketing
industry and manages the largest proprietary database of consumer
buying behavior.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/529.html
Congressional Leaders Criticize FTC Children's Privacy Rule
Federal legislators are saying that the rule proposed by the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to implement the Children's
Online Privacy Protection Act may unfairly raise the costs
of small online firms. In a letter submitted to the Commission,
the group of Congressmen criticized the agency for failing
to study the effect of its proposal on small businesses. A
number of public comments submitted by Internet companies
also urged FTC officials to provide greater flexibility in
the consent requirements. The Commission will hold a workshop
on the issue July 20. June 17, 1999.
May 1999
FTC Agrees to Settle Charges Against Liberty Financial Children's
Site
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) agreed to settle charges
with Liberty Financial Companies, the operator of Web site
that collects personal information from children. According
to the FTC complaint, the www.younginvestor.com Web site maintained
identifiable personal information despite promises that submissions
would be anonymous. The agreement requires the company to
post a privacy notice describing the Web site's information
practices, develop procedures for obtaining parental consent,
delete all personal information collected previously from
children and file compliance reports with the Commission.
May 7, 1999.
Information Broker to Fight FTC Charges
James Rapp, owner of a Colorado firm nabbed by the Federal
Trade Commission for illegally obtaining and selling personal
financial information, says he will fight the complaint against
his company. The Principal of Touch Tone Information Inc.
received encouragement from bankers and private investigators
last week, including financial support from the Coalition
to Amend the Financial Privacy Act, an industry group that
defends asset location practices such as pretext calling.
A federal case could be embarrassing to law enforcement officials,
law firms, banks and other corporations that routinely employ
information brokers to obtain information about consumers
that would normally require a subpoena. May 5, 1999.
April 1999
FTC Moves To Implement Children's Online Privacy Protection
Act
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a draft proposal
to implement the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act
(COPPA) enacted in October 1998, supplying important details
left out of the original legislation. The draft contains an
important "safe harbor" provision, Section 312.10,
that allows businesses to comply with the law by following
approved self-regulatory programs. The FTC will accept comments
on the proposal until June 11. April 22, 1999.
Senators Introduce Legislation To Protect Online Privacy
Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) have introduced
legislation to control the collection and use of personal
information on the Internet. The Online Privacy Protection
Act of 1999, resembles the Children's Online Privacy Protection
Act of 1998 in that it directs the Federal Trade Commission
to draft regulations fitting loosely-defined parameters. The
Information Technology Association of America opposes the
bill, arguing that unnecessary regulations could stifle further
development in Internet communications. April 20, 1999.
March 1999
Congress to Take Up Medical Privacy as August 1999 Deadline
Nears
Several bills to protect the confidentiality of medical records
were introduced this month in Congress, with additional proposals
still to come. Healthcare groups have criticized the Medical
Information Privacy and Security Act bill sponsored by Sen.
Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and a
competing measure introduced by Sen. James Jeffords (R-VT)
and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) because they do not contain strong
pre-emptive language for state legislation. March 20, 1999.
