A consensus is emerging among regulators that companies’ efforts to protect the consumer data they collect need a serious overhaul to keep pace with today’s changing technology landscape.
The agency taking point on the issue is the Federal Trade Commission, which has begun a series of public forums to explore privacy challenges posed by modern technology, and the business practices they spawn that collect and use consumer data: social networking, online behavioral advertising, mobile marketing, and the collection and use of information by retailers, data brokers, third-party applications, and the like.
During the first privacy roundtable held last month, FTC Chair ...