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Behavioral marketing is based on the idea that collecting data on what people do online can help advertisers learn about their interests and then effectively present ads to those who will be the most receptive. The advertising industry has touted the concept of behavioral marketing as a way to make ads increasingly relevant to [...]  On May 19, 2001, a US Senate subcommittee met to discuss “Consumer Privacy & Protection in the Mobile Market Place.” As mobile phones and location-based apps are becoming more ubiquitous, this has raised a number of consumer concerns regarding the amount and type of sensitive information that is being collected, stored and shared by developers and third-parties. [...] On January 25, 2011, the US Department of Justice brought the issue of mandatory data retention to the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. Currently, there is no law requiring internet service providers (ISPs) to retain user data, and ISP retention practices are inconsistent in terms of type of data and retention period. Law enforcement authorities have long argued that mandatory data retention would advance criminal investigations, especially those dealing with child pornography and sexual predators. Critics argue that retention of user data would result in numerous privacy and freedom of speech [...] It has been estimated that up to nine million Americans are victims of identity theft each year. However, consumers are largely unable to prevent or detect identity theft, rather depend on businesses and organizations to spot anomalies. For this reason, the Red Flags Rule was developed in order to spot warning signs (“red flags”), prevent identity theft and limit the damage that may be done. This article takes a closer look at the Red Flags Rule, as well as a recently introduced bill that may have important implications for the Rule. Background: The Red Flags Rule The Safe Harbor framework deals with privacy protection around the transfer of personal data between organizations in European Union (EU) member states to organizations located in the United States. This article explores the purposes and requirements of the Safe Harbor framework. It also provides information for US-based organizations who may participate in the Safe Harbor framework. What is Safe Harbor? Privacy risks are inherent to browsing and interacting online. The recently developed tool, Firesheep, draws attention to user vulnerabilities in web sessions. This article discusses some threats of HTTP session hijacking, as well as potential methods of reducing such threats. HTTP Session Hijacking Phoning home is a controversial issue for software manufacturers, developers and end-users. Phoning home refers to communication between a user’s software or hardware and the manufacturer. Certain applications may collect and store information about the end user and transmit it back “home” to the manufacturer. However, phone-home software has a number of different applications that include malicious and non-malicious uses. This article will explore various uses of phone-home software, as well as the security questions that are [...] Price discrimination is a strategy that is frequently used by commercial organizations as a way of distinguishing between different groups of customers. By separating consumers into subcategories, companies can charge different prices for the same goods or services. With the rapid growth of e-commerce, companies are able to experiment with and implement different price discrimination strategies. Online consumers consciously and unconsciously provide vendors with information that helps them to split the market into segments for price discrimination. This article introduces basic concepts involved in price discrimination, as well as some of the impacts on consumers’ [...] In May 2006, an Executive Order of the President created the Identity Theft Task Force. The Task Force includes members of several Federal agencies and departments. In September 2006, the Task Force released a number of recommendations ahead of the May 2007 document “Combatting ID Theft: Strategic Plan” in order to help agencies get a head start on the growing problem of identity [...] Under the Federal Trade Commission Act, the FTC has the authority to take enforcement actions for the use of “unfair trade practices.” In 2004, the FTC used the fairness principle to enforce privacy law for the first time by launching a case against the Gateway Learning company, owner of the popular “Hooked on Phonics” product [...] | ||||
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