International Work Critical to Development on Data Privacy, Other Cyber Issues, Stakeholders Say
The FTC believes continued international stakeholder work in the cyber realm is critical to the agency’s priorities on data privacy and security, said Commissioner Julie Brill Monday at a joint Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development-U.S. Council for International Business event. The FTC has been emphasizing data privacy and security as one of its policy priorities and urging Congress to pass legislation addressing data broker oversight, baseline privacy protection and data security regulation (WID Feb 4 p1, Feb 5 p1, Feb 6 p5). The FTC is emphasizing a need for data deidentification through the development of best practices meant to encourage companies to do everything “ethically possible” to strip personally identifiable information from their data, Brill said. She said she supports companies embedding ethical standards within data algorithms and proposals to create consumer subject review boards.
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The U.S. needs to “rethink” the existing notice and consent privacy model and create a simplified version for the mobile space, Brill said. The existing privacy model also faces challenges from the Internet of Things, particularly as non-consumer-facing devices begin to collect data, she said. International efforts should encourage improved data security and privacy by focusing on interoperability, along with legal regimes that allow for both interconnectedness and consumer privacy protections, Brill said. Representatives from the OECD and the State Department also noted the importance of international work on data privacy and other key Internet policy issues.
The State Department’s cyber policies reflect that “if all nations are to reap from the Internet, it must be interoperable, secure and reliable,” said Liesyl Franz, senior policy adviser for the department’s Office of the Coordinator for Cyberspace. State has used that office, formed in 2011, to develop a clearer role on cyber issues, most notably as a prominent advocate for multistakeholder Internet governance and cybercrime prevention, she said. State is also working to ensure other nations perform “due diligence” on cybersecurity issues and is promoting cyberspace as a tool for economic development, Franz said.
OECD has been an “early adopter and shaper” of international dialogue on cyber issues, said Andrew Wyckoff, OECD’s director-Directorate for Science Technology and Industry. OECD’s experience in cyber policymaking has shown that a consensus-based approach that involves civil society, government and the private sector is “where growth will come from,” he said. That experience has also made OECD a source for evidence on sector issues, allowing for a nonpolitical voice in an area where politics often obscure good solutions, he said. Colombia is one of the countries working to accede to the OECD to enhance its cyber policies, said Diego Molano Vega, the nation’s minister-information technologies and communications. Colombia wants to learn from OECD member nations as it seeks to improve its own ICT sector, he said. That nation sees an improved ICT sector as key to reducing poverty, creating jobs and increasing competitiveness, Vega said.