Enter Address for e-mail Updates
 |
February 3rd, 2001 - E-Pass Washington
Internet Privacy Concerns & The Advantages of E-Pass
The new 107th U.S. Congress is promising extensive legislative action to protect the privacy of citizens on the internet. This comes as more and more Americans bolster opinion polls showing privacy to be of the utmost importance.
At the heart of the issue are the current methods employed by internet companies seeking revenues. Most frequently, certain demographic or contact information (such as an email or snail-mail address) is solicited by these companies in return for goods, information, and/or services. In addition, firms can use cookies to track consumer habits and behavior (see Amazon and ToySmart). The value of this information is in its resale to direct marketers – the ones who often clutter your inbox with entirely useless, and often inappropriate advertisements. Yet, as they may appear unenticing, they have proven to be effective and worth the hefty sums they provide to information distributors.
Since the issue of consumer privacy first appeared with the World Wide Web in the early-1990’s, the private sector has responded with self-imposed regulations. E-Pass, for instance, requires users to manually approve any advertising that is done through the E-Pass device, and the users personal information is never solicited or distributed in any way. But the corporate internet community as a whole has not held itself as stringently to such regulations as many in the privacy rights sector have wished.
Many members of Congress have vowed to take away self-governance and impose a legal framework for privacy issues. The first shots were fired in the 106th Congress, when HR 313 was introduced to regulate the collection and use of customer information via the internet. It has not been heard from since April of 1999 when it was referred to subcommittee. What emerged in the meantime was S 2928 – an enhanced version of the same bill, sponsored by Senator John McCain of Arizona. It was referred to subcommittee in October of 2000.
Legislators in the 107th are now picking up where the 106th left off. On January 3rd of this year Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey introduced HR 89 – a resolution that would require the Federal Trade Commission to prescribe regulations to protect the privacy of personal information collected from individuals not covered by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998.
E-Pass is prepared for governmental regulations on the use of consumer information. Since its inception, E-Pass has strived to address the privacy concerns of customers who question how so much information and power can coalesce with security. Instead of seeing consumers as saleable data, E-Pass views customers as families and neighbors. As a result, E-Pass has developed an operation that does not rely upon the reckless peddling of private information. It relies instead upon the trust and loyalty of its users.
But not everyone is sleeping well. Mandatory consumer control of information is all but certain to result in a shortage of targeted consumer information available to advertisers. Internet firms that deal in the trade of such data are rightly concerned about the possible effects of these actions, as information has long served as their capital. Thus they are prepared to battle with privacy organizations over the upcoming legislative hearings. The only certainty is that privacy rights will be with us as a major technology issue for some time to come. In that time, E-Pass will continue to understand and address the basic need for user security and personal privacy. These considerations are, and have always been, of paramount importance.
To view the text and status of the bills mentioned, please visit:
[Home] [e-pass device] [Applications] [Resources] [Corporate Info] [Info Request] [News] [Contact] [Industry Links]
Copyright © 1999-2002 E-Pass Technologies, Inc. All rights
reserved.
Problems viewing this site?