Internet Privacy Law Intact

[Tinman57]

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Senate Leaves Internet Privacy Law Intact
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A Senate Committee has left a key Internet privacy law intact after
a last-minute protest by law enforcement agencies.The National District
Attorneys' Association and the National Sheriffs' Association were
concerned about a provision in the amendment requiring law
enforcement to obtain search warrants before accessing files stored in
the cloud. The VPPA updates were championed by Netflix and other
providers of streaming video content; in the proposed ruling, companies
could obtain blanket consent from consumers over the
use of their data.

The Video Privacy Protection Act was passed in 1988 in reaction to
public disclosure of then-Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's video
rental records. In 2011, the US House passed HR 2471, a bill similar
to the current Senate proposal, which also would allow companies to
obtain blanket consent to disclose consumer video viewing records.

In testimony before the Senate in January, EPIC strongly opposed the
amendment and instead recommended changes to provide greater safeguards
for Internet users. EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg urged the
Senate not to adopt HR 2471 because the amendment "undermines meaningful
consent" and does not protect consumer privacy.  Rotenberg also warned
that once Netflix users give the company blanket permission to disclose
their information, Netflix could divulge this information to any party
- including law enforcement - at any time. EPIC's testimony underscored
that the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act was a "smart, forward-
looking, technology neutral" privacy law that could be modernized to
ensure protection of "the collection and use of personal information by
companies offering new video services."

Meanwhile, a federal court in California has held that the VPPA protects
the privacy of Hulu subscribers. As the court explained, "Congress was
concerned with protecting the confidentiality of private information
about viewing preferences regardless of the business model or media
format involved."


Senate Judiciary Committee:  Hearing on VPPA Amendment (Sept. 20, 2012)
http://epic.org/redi...te-vppa-hearing.html

US House:  Amendment to the VPPA (HR 2471)
   http://thomas.loc.go...ery/z?d112:h.r.02471:

EPIC:  Testimony Before US Senate on VPPA (Jan. 31, 2012)
http://epic.org/priv...e-VPPA-Testimony.pdf

US District Court of CA:  In Re Hulu Privacy Litigation (Aug. 10, 2012)
http://epic.org/priv...n-Mot-To-Dismiss.pdf

EPIC:  Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988
   http://epic.org/privacy/vppa/

Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988
   http://www.law.corne.../uscode/18/2710.html

EPIC:  Letter to Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC) re: HR 2471 (Dec. 5, 2011)
   http://epic.org/priv...-on-HR-2471-VPPA.pdf

[TaoPhoenix]

Hmm. Based on the other stories you posted,

the congress finally has a couple of voices concerned with privacy, but the Forces That Be did a lot of damage first.

[Renegade]

I kind of wonder if these are just distractions. It's simply hard to believe that they'd actually entertain not giving themselves...

[TaoPhoenix]

This is reminding me of a personal joke I've entertained for a little while, about changing my name to ".". Yes, a Dot. Then when companies try to collate that data it would presumably do irritating things to their parsing mechanisms. Shades of xkcd "Little Johnny Tables" and friends.

But really, there's room for an upstart few politicians to go be "rebels" and go the Pro-Privacy route as the ticket to re-election. Not sure how they can roll back 10 years worth of influential money, but hey, that this story got out there at all is something.

So far this is all seething under the radar. I think it would take a national information apocalypse to shock the world into going the other way.

[Renegade]

For those that don't know "Little Bobby Tables", it's one of those classics!

http://xkcd.com/327/



 

(I love that one!)

[Tinman57]

But really, there's room for an upstart few politicians to go be "rebels" and go the Pro-Privacy route as the ticket to re-election. Not sure how they can roll back 10 years worth of influential money, but hey, that this story got out there at all is something.

-TaoPhoenix (September 29, 2012, 06:58 AM)

  You would think, but then again, the majority of the politicians don't do what they promise once they do get into office.  They will promise you the moon during election time, but once they're in they start taking money from all the special interest groups through lobbyist and vote accordingly.
  If the politicians did what they said they would do when we voted them into office, we wouldn't be having half the problems we have now....

[Renegade]

But really, there's room for an upstart few politicians to go be "rebels" and go the Pro-Privacy route as the ticket to re-election. Not sure how they can roll back 10 years worth of influential money, but hey, that this story got out there at all is something.

-TaoPhoenix (September 29, 2012, 06:58 AM)

  You would think, but then again, the majority of the politicians don't do what they promise once they do get into office.  They will promise you the moon during election time, but once they're in they start taking money from all the special interest groups through lobbyist and vote accordingly.
  If the politicians did what they said they would do when we voted them into office, we wouldn't be having half the problems we have now....

-Tinman57 (September 29, 2012, 06:12 PM)

+1

for laughs

I've seen some videos/graphics/charts/tables of what politicians promise and what they do... They're hilarious. Like, pee your pants laughing while you pass out from oxygen deprivation as you laugh so hard you begin to hyperventilate.

It's almost like you can take whatever they say they'll do, exactly reverse it, then vote based on that.

Similarly for legislation and organization names. Take the name, reverse the meaning, and poof! You have what it does/means.