Jeff Chester of the Core for Digital Democracy and Linda Woolley with the Digital Marketing Association have really different views on how far Congress should go to protect consumer privacy online.
But during a taped appearance this week on C-Span's "The Communicators" program, they did fit on a few things around the debate - key among them being that information about Web users has become a commodity.
"Consumers make to see personal information is a commodity," said Woolley, the DMA's executive vice chairman of government affairs.
Appearing on the plan after Woolley, Chester agreed that information about consumers' Web surfing habits is "the new currency. . Data is power."
That data, collected while consumers surf the Web, is exploited to help advertisers and marketers target ads at Internet users based on their interests.
Chester and Woolley also hold that draft privacy legislation proposed by two key House lawmakers aimed at setting basic rules is flawed.
Woolley argued that the conscription bill from Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va. and the panel's ranking Republican Cliff Stearns of Florida, could have a "dramatic effect" on direct marketers and expose the advertising-based model that drives much of the free capacity on the Web.
The conscription bill would require websites to render more info about what they are collecting and allow consumers to opt out of having personally identifiable information collected about them. It would require consumers to opt-in to having personally identifiable information shared with third parties except for advertising networks that allow consumers to cut or opt-out of the profiles of their surfing habits.
Woolley said her industry is taking steps on their own to address consumer concerns about privacy, adding that the "final thing we need to do is get our customers angry." In the upcoming weeks, her group will be launching a new online self-regulatory program featuring an image that will look on third-party websites providing consumers with info and choices about advertising directed at them.
Chester and other privacy advocates, however, say the Boucher-Stearns draft does not go nearly far enough, saying the "card and consent" model embraced by the measure does little to actually protect consumer privacy online. He also dismissed Woolley's claims that the card could threaten the current advertising-supported content model of the Web.
"The mind that the Net is loss to go bankrupt if we protect privacy is absurd," Chester argued.
Both sides, however, will get enough of time to keep the debate. Boucher and Stearns said Thursday that the matter will give to hold until next year when they desire to have hearings and a markup on their legislation.
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