Privacy Digest

Google proposes global privacy standard | CNET News.com: While Google is leading a charge to create a global privacy standard for how companies protect consumer data, the search giant is recommending that remedies focus on whether a person was actually harmed by having the information exposed.

Google's proposal is scheduled to be presented by Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy counsel, in a speech Friday in Strasbourg, France, at Unesco's meeting on ethics and human rights. He briefed reporters on Thursday.

The proposal follows the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Privacy Framework, which has been endorsed by many of the APEC nations, including Australia and Hong Kong, but not all. China, for instance, does not endorse it, Fleischer said.

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However, a privacy advocate dismissed the move as a desperate attempt by Google to appear to be sensitive to privacy issues amid government scrutiny of its proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of online-ad firm DoubleClick.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, called the APEC Privacy Framework "backward looking" and said it "is the weakest international framework for privacy protection, far below what the Europeans require or what is allowed for trans-Atlantic transfers between Europe and the U.S.," particularly because it focuses on the need to show harm to the consumer. The guidelines were developed before there was data collected on the cost to consumers of identity theft and security breaches, he said.

"Google is under enormous pressure from many countries around the world who are fed up with their arrogance and their unwillingness to make meaningful changes to their business practices," Rotenberg said. "They're also trying desperately to push the acquisition of DoubleClick through the Federal Trade Commission. And they've met enormous resistance."

Fleischer denied that the proposed DoubleClick merger had anything to do with Google's actions.

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Google will take its message to the public through a virtual debate it plans to open on YouTube soon, and it will participate in meetings in Montreal on September 24 with global privacy commissioners and in Washington, D.C. in October, Fleischer said.

Also, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt "will add his voice to this debate" in the next few days, Fleischer said, declining to elaborate.

Google has been speaking with Microsoft and Yahoo about the matter, and representatives from those companies expressed interest in the effort, Fleischer said.

(Read Original Article - Via CNET News.com .)