When Mobile Phones are RFID-Equipped - Finding E.U.-U.S. Solutions to Protect Consumer Privacy and Facilitate Mobile Commerce

New mobile phones have been designed to include delivery of mobile advertising and other useful location-based services, but have they also been designed to protect consumers\u27 privacy? One of the key enabling technologies for these new types of phones and new mobile services is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), a wireless communication technology that enables the unique identification of tagged objects. In the case of RFID-enabled mobile phones, the personal nature of the devices makes it very likely that, by locating a phone, businesses will also be able to locate its owner. Consumers are currently testing new RFID-enabled phones around the globe, but the phones are not yet in general use by consumers in the United States and Europe. The incorporation of RFID into cell phones in order to deliver mobile advertising and other location-based services raises a host of important privacy questions that urgently need to be addressed before the phones become widely available. Analyzing the risks to consumer privacy in this new context, this paper offers a comparative law analysis of the applicable regulatory frameworks and recent policy developments in the European Union and the United States and concludes that there are many privacy concerns not presently addressed by E.U. and U.S. laws. This article also offers specific ideas to protect consumers\u27 privacy through applications of fair information practices and privacy-enhancing technologies. When mobile phones are RFID-equipped, consumers will need new privacy protections in order to understand the risks and make knowledgeable decisions about their privacy

Direct Marketing, Mobile Phones, and Consumer Privacy: Ensuring Adequate Disclosure and Consent Mechanisms for Emerging Mobile Advertising Practices

Advertisers are poised to deliver advertising to cell phones in the U.S. This emerging advertising context is called mobile advertising. It will generate a host of privacy and personal data issues for consumers and for mobile advertisers, mobile phone manufacturers, and mobile carriers. This Article focuses on the existing federal regulatory environment applicable to mobile advertising and consumer privacy, the role of federal administrative agencies that enforce consumer privacy regulation, and the potential for industry selfregulation, particularly privacy policies, to enhance consumer privacy. It assesses the adequacy of the existing federal consumer privacy regulation as well as potential consumer remedies under contract theories and privacy tort laws. Concluding that meaningful disclosure of privacy practices and obtaining adequate consumer consent are essential privacy concerns in mobile advertising, the Article identifies weaknesses in the current regulatory system and offers simple suggestions for regulatory improvements to bolster consumers\u27 privacy protections

Direct Marketing, Mobile Phones, and Consumer Privacy: Ensuring Adequate Disclosure and Consent Mechanisms for Emerging Mobile Advertising Practices

Advertisers are poised to deliver advertising to cell phones in the U.S. This emerging advertising context is called mobile advertising. It will generate a host of privacy and personal data issues for consumers and for mobile advertisers, mobile phone manufacturers, and mobile carriers. This Article focuses on the existing federal regulatory environment applicable to mobile advertising and consumer privacy, the role of federal administrative agencies that enforce consumer privacy regulation, and the potential for industry selfregulation, particularly privacy policies, to enhance consumer privacy. It assesses the adequacy of the existing federal consumer privacy regulation as well as potential consumer remedies under contract theories and privacy tort laws. Concluding that meaningful disclosure of privacy practices and obtaining adequate consumer consent are essential privacy concerns in mobile advertising, the Article identifies weaknesses in the current regulatory system and offers simple suggestions for regulatory improvements to bolster consumers\u27 privacy protections

The Limits of Education Purpose Limitations

While student privacy has been a public issue for half a century, its contours change in response to social norms, technological capabilities, and political ideologies. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) seeks to prevent inaccurate or inappropriate information about students from being incorporated into pedagogical, academic, and employment decisionmaking. It does so by con- trolling who can access education records and, broadly, for what purposes. New education technologies take advantage of cloud computing and big data analytics to collect and share an unprecedented amount of information about students in class- rooms. Schools rely on outside, often for-profit, entities to provide these innovative tools. With the shift from education records to student data systems, privacy protection through access control does not account for the possibility that authorized recipients, or even educators themselves, might use student data for commercial or other non-educational purposes. Both FERPA and new state reforms rely on education purpose limitations as a compromise that allows schools to outsource data-reliant functions while addressing stake- holder concerns. However, current regulations define “education purposes” as information practices conducted on be- half of schools or pursuant to their authorization. Accordingly, they provide more procedural than substantive constraints. As with student privacy protections based on controlling access to education records, modern technological affordances limit the protection provided by education purpose limitations. Data-driven education tools change the nature of student information, the structure and method of school decisionmaking, and the creation of academic credentials. Broad education purpose limitations provide limited protection under these circumstances because they (1) treat education and non-education purposes as binary and mutually exclusive; (2) presume data practices serving education purposes align with students’ academic interests; (3) overlook the ethical complications created by “beta” education; (4) neglect the pedagogical effects of computerized instructional tools; and (5) discount the impact of data-driven technology on education itself. Ethical discourse regarding education technology points to productive avenues for more substantive student privacy protection

The Future of eGovernment : An Exploration of ICT-driven Models of eGovernment for the EU in 2020

This report aims to describe how ICT can enable and shape future models of eGovernment. It summarizes the results of a research project, carried out by TNO and DTI on behalf of IPTS, based on desk research, expert interviews and a scenario-building exercise. It first identifies seven "hotspots" where ICT has a key impact on specific government tasks. It then analyzes these impacts under different possible future scenarios, in order to assess their robustness and the different implications for future models of eGovernment. It finally proposes a new measurement framework suitable for these future models, and outlines the key research challenges and policy options that emerge from this analysis.JRC.J.4-Information Societ

Public Policy and Technology: Advancing Civilization at the Expense of Individual Privacy

Technological advances have created a new existence, providing an unforeseen level of interaction and transaction between parties that have never physically met. Preliminary thinking was that these advances would create a previously unimaginable level of privacy and anonymity. While a surface examination suggests an abundance of privacy in modern society, a more thorough examination reveals different results. Advances in technology and changes in public policy have produced a world in which a startling amount of information is available regarding a given individual. Rather than experiencing an increase in individual privacy, modern societies suffer from rapidly decreasing individual privacy