Obama online privacy plan faces challenge

Privacy advocates Thursday welcomed a White House privacy plan that would give consumers more control over how personal data is collected, used, stored and shared by websites and online advertisers.

In a 60-page Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights released today, the Obama Administration spelled out a series of proposals aimed at getting various Internet stakeholders to develop baseline codes of conduct for handling consumer data.

The document makes it clear that the Administration will work with Congress to enact legislation that would implement the codes of conduct.

But the larger focus of the plan is to get Internet companies, privacy and consumer advocacy groups, state attorneys general, law enforcement agencies and academicians to jointly develop voluntary standards for ensuring the security of consumer data. Read more...