Technics: Online Privacy: USA consumers may get a 'bill of rights' to protect privacy from Facebook, et cetera

Guardian UK (Mar16,2k11)  When the Obama admin received so much disgust after its Federal Communications Commission floated some Net Neutrality proposals, seeking to forestall future Internet Service Providers and consortia from squeezing time and bandwith from little-guy consumers, it's a wonder really that this new idea is suddenly on the agenda.  Against the naysaying Tea Party, Conservatives, and Republicans, refWrite supported provisionally both Net Neutrality's basic idea and now also the Bill of Rites for bloggers and other denizens 9consumers, citizens) on the Internet.  But refWrite opposes Obama's plan to extend the length of copyrights; we want online news, for instance, to have a much shorter shelflife of special protections. Cut the copyright special protection of news items down to one-half hour!

-- Technowlb and Politicarp

US consumers to get online bill of privacy rights

Obama administration pushes for bill to establish basic levels of privacy amid concern about data being gathered on consumers by likes of Facebook and Google

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• Dominic Rushe
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 March 2011 18.16 GMT

The amount of data being gathered on consumers by sites such as Facebook has raised concern in the US. Photograph: Alamy

The Obama administration is pushing for a "bill of rights" to protect theprivacy of people using the internet. The proposals were outlined by Lawrence Strickling, head of the telecoms arm of the commerce department, at a hearing of the senate commerce committee in Washington DC.

Politicians and privacy groups are increasingly concerned about the mass of information being acquired online by firms including Facebook, Google and Twitter. Strickling told the committee that a privacy bill of rights should outline basic levels of protection and ensure the regulators had the authority to enforce those expectations.