Cross-Device Scrutiny and Privacy Appointment at FTC

In the US, the FTC has shown increased interest in cross-device tracking, holding a recent discussion with ad industry execs, academia and consumer protection groups; and has appointed another privacy advocate, Lorrie Faith Cranor, as its latest Chief Technologist.


To date the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has never brought an enforcement action based on an advertiser's cross-device data collection, according to www.lexology.com - but the meeting suggests the area will fall under more scrutiny in future. The meeting discussed both 'deterministic' tracking - based on users logging in before using services - and 'probabilistic' tracking, based on analysis of a broad range of behavior to establish that two devices are likely to have the same user. Thus far, the Commission has only underlined - in comments by a representative from its Division of Privacy and Identity Protection - the need for companies using such tracking to be transparent with consumers.


Meanwhile the Commission is to replace privacy researcher Ashkan Soltani - after one year in the Chief Technologist role - with Cranor, who is 'a tough critic of the online ad industry's privacy initiatives', according to www.mediapost.com . Soltani is known as a contributor to high profile Washington Post articles about Edward Snowden, and the role has previously been filled by other privacy experts like Harvard's Latanya Sweeney, a leading critic of anonymization techniques.

Cranor is a computer scientist with Carnegie Mellon University and was co-developer of the early privacy platform P3P, scuppered by the failure of publishers to submit accurate information. In a 2008 report, she noted that online privacy policies take users an average of ten minutes to read, from which a quick calculation suggested that 'if every US Web user read the privacy policy at every site visited, the time spent reading privacy policies would total an estimated 44.3 billion hours per year'.

Cranor will now advise FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez on technology and policy issues. Jules Polonetsky, Executive Director of the Future of Privacy Forum, says she brings 'a unique mix of technological prowess, scholarship and understanding of consumer attitudes toward privacy'. However IAB General Counsel Mike Zaneis told MediaPost: 'The revolving door of privacy advocates masquerading as Chief Technologists continues at the FTC. It's like they are funding a one semester internship for anyone with advocate bona fides'.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.