If you follow privacy policy, you won’t want to miss these two great events.
First, on Monday (12/7), the Federal Trade Commission will be holding the first of three “Exploring Privacy” roundtables at its conference center (601 New Jersey Avenue, NW). This all-day event (agenda) will include five panel discussions, and remarks by FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour, and David C. Vladeck, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. The lineups for all five panels look excellent. The FTC deserves great credit for trying hard to represent the broad spectrum of expert opinion on this profoundly important issue. PFF President Adam Thierer will be on on the Consumer Expectations and Disclosures panel (11:00?12:15), I will be on the Online Behavioral Advertising panel (1:30?2:45 p.m.), and the Cato Institute’s Jim Harper will be on the Benefits and Risks of Collecting, Using, and Retaining Consumer Data panel (9:15?10:45 a.m.). For those who cannot attend in person, event will be webcasted, and I will be live-tweeting key highlights (except for my own panel, of course).
Here are the comments submitted to the Roundtable. The second Roundtable will take place January 28, 2010 in Berkeley, CA with a third to follow in Washington in the spring.
Second, on Wednesday (12/9), Rob Atkinson of The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation will be moderating a debate about targeted online advertising at ITIF (1101 K Street, Washington, DC 20005, Suite 610). Rob is probably the single most thoughtful observer of this debate, and he’s put together a terrific panel that includes my sparring partner Jeff Chester, Howard Beales (whose excellent economic work I have cited heavily in my own writings about the benefits of one advertising), the FTC’s Peder Magee (one of the key organizers of the Exploring Privacy roundtable series, and also an exceptionally thoughtful and fair observer) and, if we’re lucky, CDT’s Ari Schwartz (a staunch defender of P3P).
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.