Tag Archives: legislation

Who’s afraid of the World Wide Web? Major advertisers agree to ‘do not track’ technology

WASHINGTON — In an effort to ensure online privacy for consumers, major online advertisers have come together after more than a year to install “do not track” technology into Web browsers in compliance with new White House privacy guidelines.

The technology is one of several requirements included in the Obama administration’s “Privacy Bill of Rights” announced this month.

A “do not track” button allows users to opt out of having their Web history tracked by third parties, including advertising networks, analytics services and social platforms. These groups commonly use consumer data to craft customized ads and other offers related to employment, credit, health care and insurance.

However, the button will not put an end to all tracking. Advertisers will still be able to use online consumer information for market research and product development. In addition, all online data will still be available to law enforcement officials.

Loopholes will still exist for certain companies as well, according to Consumer Reports. Even if users click the “do not track” button, Google will be able track searches if conducted while users are signed into Google services, such as their Gmail account. The same is true for Facebook, which will be able to track logged-in users through the “Like” and “Share” buttons on outside pages.

“It’s a good start,” Christopher Calabrese, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, said of Obama’s privacy initiative in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “But we want you to be able to not be tracked at all if you so choose.”

Implementation of “do not track” is not new – several companies already offer the technology on their browsers, including Mozilla’s Firefox and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Apple has promised a version of the button in its next edition of Safari, according to The Washington Post. Google is expected to install the button on its Chrome browser by the end of this year.

Despite the option’s presence and calls to implement it by the Federal Trade Commission beginning in 2010, until recently all advertisers had not agreed to honor the system.

Now, 400 companies in the Digital Advertising Alliance have agreed to abide by the request from the White House, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal.

“Central to the value proposition of the Internet is trust,” said a representative for the group in a statement. “Consumers must trust that their personal data will be kept private and secure as they surf the Web aboard myriad devices seeking news, services and entertainment tailored to their very personal interests.”

“[This] marks not the end of a journey, but the beginning of an important collaboration among government, business, and consumer organizations to assure that the free Internet…can continue to flourish.”

Members of the Alliance will begin honoring the agreement within the next nine months.

The White House released its bill on Thursday, after the conclusion of a two-year study on the collection of consumer data online. The proposal outlines seven privacy guidelines pertaining to personal data: individual control, transparency, respect for context, security, access and accuracy, focused collection and accountability.

The framework would allow users more personal control over what information is collected about them and how it is used.

According to PC Magazine, even if the administration’s rules are not approved by Congress, the measures could still be put in place if a cohesive industry agreement is made.

 

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New legislation to save billions in defense purchases

Representatives aim to cut waste, speed up process of Defense contracts with new bill

WASHINGTON — Each year, the Defense Department buys more than $330 billion worth of services from outside companies, wasting billions in taxpayer dollars in the process, Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., said on Wednesday. He and four fellow members of the House Armed Services Committee presented a bill to reduce that amount, arguing that more rigorous accounting standards and incentives for employees tasked with contract oversight could help save taxpayers $135 billion­ over the next five years.

“This legislation would require the Defense Department to adopt the basic management practices that are necessary for anything as complex as the acquisitions system to function properly,” said Ike Skelton, D-Mo., committee chairman­.

The lawmakers ­want the Pentagon ­to set clear objectives for the contractors, and hire qualified employees to oversee the contracts. They also want to set ­financial incentives for those employees, and to increase competition among defense contractors to “gain access to more innovative technology,” as Skelton said, and save taxpayer money.

Andrews said the bill would reduce contracting costs for services by six to seven percent each year, leading to savings of $135 billion over a five-year span.

­Last year’s Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act­ addressed the processes of buying large weapons systems. Sponsors said the ­new bill would focus on “the remaining 80 percent of defense acquisition,” said Howard McKeon, R-Calif., the highest ranking Republican on the committee. That includes contracts for services and computer programs.

Contracting for these services provides a particular challenge because the Defense Department’s contracting process doesn’t fit well with rapidly changing technology needs, said Laura Peterson, senior policy analyst for national security at the non-partisan watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.

“The technology just tends to change as these contracts are going through the motions,” Peterson said. Figuring out the standards a new computer system should meet, finding a contractor and ­putting the new program into place can take years. By that time, the technology may be outdated.

Bill takes up bipartisan recommendations

The House committee created the bipartisan panel in March 2009 to review the defense acquisition process.

“While the nature of defense acquisition has substantially changed, the defense acquisition system has not kept pace,” the panel’s members wrote in a report published last month after a yearlong review of the acquisition structure. The current process is “particularly poorly designed for the acquisition of information technology.”

Setting clear standards is one way of addressing ­that problem, but ensuring adequate oversight is another challenge. Defense Department employees may lack the technological expertise to assess computer systems, Peterson said. The bill would require the Defense Department to “strengthen the part of the acquisition workforce that specializes in information technology,” for example by offering career incentives to IT experts.

The Pentagon lacks adequate records needed to provide an audit of the contracts, Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, said.

The current deadline the Pentagon ­set for itself to produce those financial statements is 2017. The new bill, called the Implementing Management for Performance and related Reform to Obtain Value in Every Acquisition or IMPROVE Act, attempts to speed up that process by offering incentives to those agencies within the Pentagon ­that complete the audit process before then. That includes ­faster access to funding­.  The auditing itself would be contracted out.

“You would have independent accounting firms who would be performing the audits, through a contract, on behalf of the taxpayers,” Conaway said.

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