Lawmakers Eye Cell Phone Privacy Legislation

TRUSTe’s CEO, Chris Babel was busy hobnobbing with the U.S. lawmakers, discussing a wide array of matters. The range was expansive but the spectrum of discussion was restricted to the menace of cell phone spy – omnipresent in various shapes and sizes – and how every Tom, Dick and Harry is vying to track a cell phone these days. Babel iterated that the Congress didn’t really have to take massive steps to ensure web and cell phone privacy – something that was rebuffed categorically by the lawmakers.

If It Ain’t Broke?

The rationale provided by Mr Babel for his assertion was that since ‘self-policing efforts’ ostensibly are working fine enough. He further said that online companies’ efforts with regards to the regulation of privacy practices are working rather effectively and that self regulation in fact has escalated over the recent past. Some of the attendee lawmakers gave the CEO the “who are you kidding?” look, while the rest cleared their throats and gave him the “who are you kidding?” look. And their words followed suit, rather fittingly.

Yeah, It Is Broke

To no one’s surprise, barring maybe Chris Babel himself, the lawmakers begged to differ – they might not have begged, but they definitely did differ. The lawmakers claimed that the Congress needs to enact a legislation that caters to online and mobile security and privacy, one that divulges the rules for websites and the developers of cell phone apps. This should ensure that cell phone spy remains in check and that it would take a lot more than just wanting to do it for an Average Joe – or indeed a hacking connoisseur – to track a cell phone. ACT’s (Association for Competitive Technology) representatives and that of eBay screamed bloody murder for an online privacy law that would cover the bases as far as online security is concerned.

Give Them a Good Old Walloping, Shall We?

The lawmakers also cried out for strong action against companies which violated the standards of privacy. The executive director of ACT, Morgan Reed, was of the opinion that if enforcement actions are taken it would serve the purpose of ‘deterrence’ and that in turn would ensure that the threat of being walloped prevents the firms from crossing the privacy line. And as the lawmakers continued to stress upon their problems with regards to a wide array of matters, ranging from fox setting rules to falling out of compliance, Babel and other committee members were busy highlighting industry efforts with regards to upping the ante on online privacy standards.

A Case of MisTRUSTe?

Babel highlighted TRUSTE’s quest of ensuring privacy standards, and how 11 companies were shot down last year for the said violation. But the fact that Facebook and Google – Internet’s Big Two, and also the Big Two in generating privacy complaints – are still not under TRUSTe’s gun obviously creates mistrust. You can’t have one law for the ‘smaller’ companies and another for the ‘bigger’ companies; they should all be treated equally – although of course, given their stature, Facebook and Google are indeed more equal than others…

Author Bio: Natalia David, an author significantly contributes towards PC security Software, mobile spy and iPhone spy. If you want to know more about Natalia you can follow her on twitter @NataliaDavid4

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Category: Mobile