美國白宮提出“網絡隱私權議案”

The White House proposed on Thursday a "privacy bill of rights" that would give consumers more control over their data but relies heavily for now on voluntary commitments by Internet companies like Google Inc and Facebook.

The plan comes amid growing consumer concern about their lack of control over the collection and trade in vast amounts of detailed information about their online activities and real-life identities.

As part of the announcement, an online advertising coalition associated with Google Inc, Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp said its members agreed to placing "Do Not Track" technology in Web browsers, something the Federal Trade Commission has been advocating since 2010.

But privacy advocates said that commitment was of limited scope and consumers should avoid thinking their Internet activity would be totally shielded.

Various federal agencies, including the FTC and Department of Commerce, have recommended similar privacy rights in the past, but broad legislation has failed to get traction. Privacy laws have been narrowly tailored toward protecting children, or categories of data such as credit reports and health records.

"The hope would be that this is a measure that you get all the large advertisers to agree to. Then it gets to be in their interest to get it enforced on the others through legislation," said Christopher Calabrese, lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union.

A leading Republican on the issue in the GOP-controlled House, Representative Mary Bono Mack, gave tepid support, saying she would work with the administration but that "any rush-to-judgment could have a chilling effect on our economy and potentially damage, if not cripple, online innovation."

The White House proposed seven basic protections that consumers should expect from companies.

Consumers should have control over the kind of data companies collect, companies must be transparent about data usage plans and respect the context in which it is provided and disclosed. Companies would have to ensure secure and responsible handling of the data and be accountable for strong privacy measures.美國白宮本週四提出一項“隱私權議案”，增加了用戶對自己網絡信息的控制權，但其實施目前仍嚴重有賴於谷歌和Facebook等網絡公司的自願承諾。

越來越多的用戶擔心自已無法控制對於自己的上網活動以及真實身份等海量詳細信息的收集和交易，因此白宮提出了此項提議。

公告中還提到，與谷歌、雅虎、微軟等公司合作的某網絡廣告聯盟曾表示，其成員同意在網絡瀏覽器中使用“不要追蹤信息”技術。自2010年開始，美國聯邦貿易委員會就開始提倡這一技術。

但保護隱私權益人士稱，這一承諾範圍有限，用戶應該提防網上活動信息失竊。

美國聯邦貿易委員會和商務部等衆多聯邦機構都進行過類似的保護隱私權提議，但一直沒能立法。隱私權法僅限於保護兒童，或者信用報告和健康報告等類型的數據。

美國民權同盟的說客克里斯托弗•卡拉貝斯說：“我們希望這一措施可以得到所有大型廣告商的同意。繼而他們就願意通過法律的實施使其他人也遵照執行。”

在共和黨佔多數的衆議院，一位知名的共和黨議員瑪麗•波諾•馬克對該提議不是很支持，表示她會與機構合作推進，但“任何急躁的判斷都可能對經濟造成‘寒蟬效應’，就算不會削弱，也會潛在地破壞網絡創新。”

白宮提出了網絡公司要向用戶提供的七大保護措施。

用戶應可以控制網絡公司收集數據的類型、公司必須完全公開數據使用計劃，並尊重信息提供和披露的語境。公司應保證對數據進行安全和負責的處理，並且對嚴密的隱私保護措施負責。