As part of the Obama administration’s Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights initiative, NTIA is leading a series of multistakeholder workshops involving companies, privacy advocates, consumers groups, and technology experts to develop voluntary codes of conduct to protect users’ privacy in specific business contexts. The first workshop, scheduled for July 12, will begin the process of developing a code of conduct for mobile app privacy.
“We proposed this as an initial topic because it is a privacy challenge that affects many consumers yet is discrete enough to be addressed in a reasonable period of time. Many of you agreed. We expect the stakeholder experience in developing a code of conduct on this topic will inform future efforts to develop codes that address other privacy issues”, Lawrence Strickling, head of NTIA, said in a blog.
The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) welcomed the NTIA’s decision to hold a multistakeholder privacy meeting.
The NTIA’s announcement “marks the beginning of a multistakeholder process that can contribute significantly to the continuation of interoperable data privacy regimes, including the European Union’s proposed data protection regulations. SIIA concurs with the Department of Commerce that voluntary, enforceable codes of conduct are the appropriate approach for data privacy protections because they develop faster and provide more flexibility than legislation or regulation”, said SIIA President Ken Wasch in a blog.