InfoBytes Blog
FTC Hosts Its Second Annual PrivacyCon Event
On January 12, the FTC hosted its second annual “PrivacyCon”—a public forum promoted by the regulator in order to “expand collaboration among leaders from academia, research, consumer advocacy, and industry on the privacy and security implications of emerging technologies.” Throughout the day, speaker panels presented research and opened the floor to discussions addressing five major topic areas: (i) the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data; (ii) mobile privacy; (iii) consumer privacy expectations; (iv) online behavioral advertising; and (v) information security. Among other things, panelists discussed the possibility of using machine learning to automatically block or permit user tracking and information collection by applications and websites based on the user’s past practices. Many panelists also examined data “leakage” from devices and the possible privacy and security issues that are raised by such leakage.
A full version of the agenda, including links to abstracts of the research being presented, as well as a video recording of the event, is available online. Additional research not present but submitted without a request for confidential treatment is also available here.