The White House on Thursday suggested updates to laws and other measures to enhance privacy and prevent discrimination based on the data trail left by consumers on their phones and computers that companies and researchers collect and analyze, according to the Associated Press.
Both privacy advocates and tech groups found something to like within the 90-day "Big Data" review, led by John Podesta, a top advisor to President Barack Obama, the AP reported.
The review consulted internet companies such as Google and Facebook, data miners like Acxiom, as well as academics, advertising agencies, legal experts, civil rights groups and intelligence agencies, according to the AP.
The White House threw its support behind a legislative update to a privacy law for email, the Electronic Privacy Communications Act, which protects email and other data stored in the cloud, the AP reported.
The review also recommended legislation to create a national standard for telling consumers when their data has been hacked to improve state laws for data breaches, such as the December breach at retailer Target, according to the AP.
The Commerce Department also said it would look at how to codify a "Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights" that calls for consumers to have more say in how their data is used, first drafted by White House in 2012, the AP reported.
The emphasis on data protections pleased Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, according to the AP.
"We see 'Big Data' as one of the great privacy challenges facing the country," said Rotenberg, who teaches information privacy law at Georgetown University Law Center, the AP reported.
"The question now is what steps will be taken to implement the recommendations," he said in an interview, according to the AP. Congress is unlikely to advance legislation ahead of midterm elections in November, and timelines for other ideas in the report were unclear.
