Commerce report calls for ‘privacy bill of rights’

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The Commerce Department is calling for the creation of a “privacy bill of rights” for Internet users to set ground rules for companies that collect consumer data online and use that information for marketing and other purposes.

The proposal, outlined in a report Thursday, is intended to address growing unease about the vast amounts of personal information that companies are scooping up on the Internet — from Web-browsing habits to smart-phone locations to Facebook preferences. That data is often mined to target advertising.

The new report is intended to guide lawmakers, industry and a White House group looking at the issues surrounding Internet privacy.

It comes two weeks after the Federal Trade Commission recommended the creation of a “Do Not Track” tool to let consumers stop or restrict advertisers from studying their online activity — including the websites they visit, the links they click, their Internet searches and their online purchases — in order to target ads.

The Commerce Department report proposes the creation of a broad framework for industry behavior to ensure that companies give consumers clear notice about what personal data they are collecting and exactly how they are using it.

It would require companies to give consumers the opportunity to “opt out” of, or decline, some or all of that data collection and to correct errors in the information. And it would set clearer limits on the use of this information and require companies to secure the data they gather.