by Jeff Sovern I've posted a paper on SSRN, Can Cost-Benefit Analysis Help Consumer Protection Laws? Or at Least Benefit Analysis?, forthcoming in the University of California-Irvine Law Review. Here's the abstract: Cost-benefit analysis is often troubling to consumer advocates. But this article argues that in some circumstances it may help consumers. The article gives […]
Category Archives: Privacy
Michael Birnhack of Tel Aviv University has written S-M-L-XL Data: Big Data as a New Informational Privacy Paradigm. Here's the abstract: Can informational privacy law survive Big Data? A few scholars have pointed to the inadequacy of the current legal framework to Big Data, especially the collapse of notice and consent, the principles of data […]
Daniel J. Solove of George Washington and Woodrow Hartzog of Samford's Cumberland School of Law and Stanford's Center for Internet and Society have written The FTC and the New Common Law of Privacy, forthcoming in the Columbia Law Review. Here's the abstract: One of the great ironies about information privacy law is that the primary regulation […]
M. Ryan Calo of Washington has written Digital Market Manipulation. Here's the abstract: Jon Hanson and Douglas Kysar coined the term “market manipulation” in 1999 to describe how companies exploit the cognitive limitations of consumers. Everything costs $9.99 because consumers see the price as closer to $9 than $10. Although widely cited by academics, the […]
by Jeff Sovern Acxiom is about to let you find out some of what it knows about you, as this Times story by Natasha Singer reports. Other data brokers should emulate Acxiom and enable consumers to learn what they know about them And if they refuse to do so, Congress should pass legislation requiring them to tell us […]
Frederik J. Zuiderveen Borgesius of the Institute for Information Law (University of Amsterdam) has written Consent to Behavioural Targeting in European Law – What are the Policy Implications of Insights from Behavioural Economics? Here is the abstract: Behavioural targeting is the monitoring of people’s online behaviour to target advertisements to specific individuals. European law requires […]
Here, along with an explanatory memo. We had previously blogged about this Do Not Track effort. Here's the abstract: This document contains the decision of the Tracking Protection Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium, as issued in July, 2013 by the co-chairs, Peter Swire and Matthias Schunter, as well as a detailed […]
by Jeff Sovern Last week, we linked to Ed Mierzwinski's post about complaints about CFPB information-gathering processes. There's more. Over at the Taking Charge blog, Fred Williams has a post on the CFPB data collection, Privacy Agencies Say Don't Worry: Consumer Bureau is No Spy. Here's an excerpt: "I am not aware of any privacy […]
Ed's excellent post is here. Those who purport to be so concerned about the privacy of bank customers should seek to amend the Gramm-Leach-Bliley privacy provisions to bar banks from selling consumer information unless their customers affirmatively opt-in to the sale of that information. But that would mean supporting consumer protection, precisely what the CFPB […]