Online privacy -- Pam Dixon will participate in the IAB's formal privacy policy debate as a privacy and consumer representative on Tuesday, Feb. 26. This marks the first time the IAB annual leadership summit has hosted a formal policy debate. The debate will be moderated by Katy Kay of Advertising Age.
Reputation and privacy -- Pam Dixon spoke at the Southwestern Law School Privacy Conference on the topic of reputational privacy Friday the 22cnd along with Neville Johnson and Paul Tweed. Dixon highlighted three key consumer situations WPF assisted with recently, discussing the employment challenges consumers faced when harmful material was available online during the job search process.
Mobile Privacy -- The World Privacy Forum attended the NTIA Multistakeholder meeting as one of the core drafters of the code of conduct being considered by the NTIA Multistakeholder process. WPF and the other drafters are accepting comments from all stakeholders in preparation of the next iteration of the draft.
February 10, 2013 Online Job Seekers, Still Beware of Scams! Today the Augusta Chronicle published a story by Jenna Martin quoting World Privacy Forum's Pam Dixon about job seekers and how important it is for them to be wary of online job scams. "I am concerned that we are still ...
Arizona School of Law -- Pam Dixon participated as a discussant and contributor to the Arizona School of Law's private workshop on the topic of the future of privacy. Key areas of discussion included the European Union's Right to be Forgotten proposal, consent and health privacy, and Do Not Track.
Webinar -- This Thursday, Pam Dixon will be presenting the consumer privacy perspective for a DMA Webinar on data innovation. While marketers are interested in innovating to use consumer data, consumers have real privacy concerns that need to be addressed. Dixon will present some of the key implications.
Pam Dixon to Speak at Churchill Club -- WPF's Pam Dixon will speak on privacy gaps at Silicon Valley's Churchill Club Wednesday, January 23 in San Francisco. The panel is part of International Privacy Day activities and will be moderated by Chris Kelley, Former Chief Privacy Officer of Facebook.
NTIA Mobile privacy -- WPF participated in the January 17th meeting of the NTIA Multistakeholder Process. The jointly crafted code WPF, ACLU, Mobile App Alliance, and Consumer Action created was again discussed and edited. A growing consensus is moving toward the joint code. The next meeting is January 31, 2013.
Facial recognition -- Pam Dixon spoke at a CES panel on privacy issues in facial recognition technologies as part of the Leaders in Technology program at CES. The panel was moderated by Tony Romm of Politico and included FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen and Harley Geiger, legislative counsel for Representative Zoe Lofgren. Dixon spoke on the need for increased work on consumer options in a "sensor rich environment where there is no option to opt out by walking out." Referenced in the panel was WPF's report on digital signage and facial recognition, The One-Way Mirror Society.
January 9, 2013 Las Vegas, Nevada -- Pam Dixon is speaking at a Consumer Electronics show panel on privacy issues in facial recognition technologies as part of the Leaders in Technology program. Dixon's presentation will be part of a panel introduced by Federal Trade Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen. The panel will ...
This request is for a copy of every annual report made by the Department of Justice under this provision of Executive Order 13181. We prefer to have the copies in a widely available electronic format, such as a PDF file or a Word document. Having an electronic format will facilitate the posting of the reports on the World Privacy Forum’s website at www.worldprivacyforum.org. We note this is our second request for this report. Our first request was made November 29, 2007. The DOJ responded to our 2007 FOIA by saying the annual report could not be located.
Thank you for your donation and for supporting our work! If you have any questions, please contact us at (760) 712-4281 or info@worldprivacyforum.org . We would love to hear from you.
July 21, 2012 San Diego, California -- Today the World Privacy Forum filed comments on California's plan to harmonize existing California state law to federal health privacy laws. California's health privacy law, the CMIA, offers Californian's stronger privacy protections than national level health privacy laws. WPF urges California to reconsider its plan to weaken Californian's privacy. Executive director Pam Dixon said "The harmonization plan coming out of California's Department of Health and Human Services is not in harmony with California patients and their health privacy."
New California privacy enforcement office -- California Attorney General Kamala Harris has created a new privacy protection and enforcement unit. The unit will be housed in the Department of Justice and will focus on protecting consumer and individual privacy through civil prosecution of state and federal privacy laws, a news release said. "The Privacy Unit’s mission to enforce and protect privacy is broad. It will enforce laws regulating the collection, retention, disclosure, and destruction of private or sensitive information by individuals, organizations, and the government. This includes laws relating to cyber privacy, health privacy, financial privacy, identity theft, government records and data breaches. By combining the various privacy functions of the Department of Justice into a single enforcement and education unit with privacy expertise, California will be better equipped to enforce state privacy laws and protect citizens’ privacy rights. " Joanne McNabb, who ran the now de-funded California Office of Privacy Protection, will serve as director of privacy education and policy for the unit.
July 11, 2012 San Diego, California -- Today the World Privacy Forum published a comment essay by executive director Pam Dixon urging all privacy stakeholders to focus on the consumer during the Commerce Multistakeholder privacy process, set to get underway tomorrow. "We must put the consumer first and focus on what is important," said Pam Dixon.
Drones -- A recent item about drones in the GWU CyberSecurity Policy Newsletter revealed that drones can be hacked via spoofing the drone GPS systems. Government drones in US airspace are poised to become a privacy issue of increasing concern.
Mobile privacy -- Mobile app privacy is the topic of the multistakeholder process to be undertaken this week under the direction of the US Department of Commerce. Over the weekend, a NYT article revealed that mobile carriers received more than 1.3 million requests by law enforcement for mobile data, including requests for text messages. This article is a focusing event. It is a reminder that in mobile privacy we need to put the consumer first, focus on what is important, and apply responsibility for privacy and transparency throughout the hierarchy of mobile players, from carriers to platforms to app stores to publishers to developers. It is unclear yet what segments of the hierarchy require what amounts of the burden, but what is clear is that carriers will certainly need to do a lot. It is also clear that the idea of just an icon on a screen to communicate the idea of mobile privacy to consumers is a band-aid approach at best when faced with the truth of where some of the real risks are for consumers.
HIE interactive map -- WPF has posted a new interactive map of health information organizations and exchanges in California. This is a map-in-progress, and we will be adding data to the map in stages.
Mobile Apps -- Pam Dixon will be speaking in the Privacy Summit Series in dialogue with the leading mobile app developers in Los Angeles and San Diego, both mobile app hotspots. The dialogues are part of a national series aimed at fostering a robust discussion between privacy experts and leading developers. The Los Angeles event is taking place June 5, the San Diego event is June 6.
FTC | Mobile privacy – Pam Dixon spoke at the FTC’s May 30 mobile disclosures workshop. The panel focused on exploring privacy in the mobile applications and mobile wireless space. Some of the privacy topics Dixon covered at the workshop included the role and use of unique identifiers in wireless technologies.
WPF filed comments with the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethics today urging the Commission to recognize the need for enhanced genetic privacy protections in a digital world. WPF noted that "The increasing identifiability of genetic data presents major privacy issues for research activities that must be acknowledged and addressed." WPF suggested four key ways that Certificate of Confidentiality programs could be enhanced for privacy protection, and urged the Commission to speak out about the importance of protecting patient privacy in research activities involving genetic information. "The Commission should advocate providing patients with reasonable controls over research uses of their data as electronic records develop and spread throughout the health care system." Public comments may be submitted to the Commission until May 25, 2012.
Genetic Privacy | Bioethics -- WPF filed comments with the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethics today urging the Commission to recognize the need for enhanced genetic privacy protections in a digital world. WPF noted that "The increasing identifiability of genetic data presents major privacy issues for research activities that must be acknowledged and addressed." WPF suggested four key ways that Certificate of Confidentiality programs could be enhanced for privacy protection, and urged the Commission to speak out about the importance of protecting patient privacy in research activities involving genetic information. "The Commission should advocate providing patients with reasonable controls over research uses of their data as electronic records develop and spread throughout the health care system." Public comments may be submitted to the Commission until May 25, 2012.
Medical ID Theft -- WPF has completely updated its landmark medical identity theft tips and advice for patients and consumers. "The new FAQcontains detailed advice for anyone who is a victim of medical ID theft, or is worried about becoming one," says Pam Dixon. "The FAQ and our shorter consumer tips have been updated to reflect our most recent research." In 2006, WPF published the first known report on medical ID theft and coined the term. Since then, WPF has been in the forefront of researching this crime and working to assist victims and those working with victims
World Privacy Forum information and materials on medical identity theft.
World Privacy Forum information and materials on medical privacy topics.