Wall Street Journal Says Obama Administration Preparing to Try Internet Privacy Legislation

Regulation of the Internet is an issue that few politicians have ever wanted to touch. The conventional wisdom has always dictated that any government regulation of the Internet would forestall innovation of dynamic, new Web-based technologies. But in an era when people are increasingly becoming concerned with personal data and the implications of its misuse, it seems President Obama is ready to at least try and make some changes.

According to Wall Street Journal sources, the Obama administration is preparing to take a tougher stance on policing Internet privacy by proposing new legislation and creating a new position to spearhead privacy efforts. The U.S. Commerce Department is expected to unveil new privacy initiatives before the end of the year. There are currently no U.S. laws that cover online privacy. In cases where misuse of personal material has been prosecuted, the cases were always based on fraud.

The White House has also put together a special task force whose job it will be to help transform the Commerce Department recommendations into policy. The White House task force was set up three weeks ago and is headed by Commerce Department general counsel Cameron Kerry (brother of Sen. John Kerry) and Christopher Schroeder, assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice.

The Wall Street Journal noted that implementing any new privacy initiatives will be a difficult task and the White House may have a tough fight to get any meaningful privacy policies passed. Because of the results of recent elections, Republicans will control the House of Representatives in Congress beginning next year. While the GOP generally supports privacy issues, it's unlikely they will support any legislation that will broaden the power of the FTC (News - Alert). Without giving broad power to the FTC to enforce any privacy legislation, any laws will be toothless at best.

Other countries, most notably Canada, Germany and the U.K., have stricter privacy laws than the U.S., so in cases in which Facebook (News - Alert) and Google, for example, have been required to take more stringent steps to protect user privacy, directives have always originated off U.S. soil.

One thing is certain, it's bound to be a tough fight. Noted the Wall Street Journal, “Proponents of legislation argue the industry is a Wild West where consumer data are gathered and sold without restrictions. Opponents of legislation say the industry is committed to providing tools to give consumers better insight into and control over data about themselves.”