Consumers Union is an expert, independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves.
It’s been a busy week for online privacy! On Thursday, Consumers Union participated in a White House roll-out of a “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights,” which sets out general principles about how consumer data should be handled online. The principles focus on granting individuals more control over their privacy online, as well as ensuring Continue Reading
Posts
On February 16, the Federal Trade Commission released a report that looked at the effectiveness of privacy disclosures made by mobile apps for children. The results of the report are dismal. The FTC dubbed the privacy disclosures “disappointing” because it would be nearly impossible for an average consumer to figure out what data a mobile app was Continue Reading
January 31, 2012 Federal Trade Commission 600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Room H-113 (Annex P) Washington,DC20580 Comments of Consumers Union Face Facts: A Forum on Facial Recognition Project Number P115406 Consumers Union,[1] the public policy and advocacy division of Consumer Reports®, appreciates the opportunity to provide comment on “Face Facts: A Forum on Facial Recognition Continue Reading
Imagine passing a digital ad board that silently and instantly determines your gender and age, possibly even your current emotional state, and targets you with personalized ads. Or what if you walked into a clothing store and immediately received gender and age-based suggestions, size availability, and instant coupons on a digital display inside the store? Continue Reading
Facebook recently got in some trouble when it automatically began analyzing users’ photos and suggesting photo “tags” to friends. The company claims this technology was implemented to allow us to quickly identify and tag our friends in our photos all at the same time. But some worry that, in light of Facebook’s 800 million active Continue Reading
