News & Headlines

• March 17, 2010 How privacy vanishes online
• March 12, 2010 Sending money electronically: Why it's hard
• March 12, 2010 Instant ads set the pace on the web
• March 05, 2010 Homeland Security seeks to thwart cyber-attacks
• March 05, 2010 Smartphones have changed the way we travel

Publications

CA News & Special Reports

2006 Privacy Issue The legal right to privacy has been recognized in the U.S. since the late 1890s. This Special Report addresses: What Is Privacy?, Why is it important? and What threats against you and your family are viable once privacy is breached? ( Friday, May 05, 2006 )

On Our Radar

• November 17, 2009 Study: How people perceive online behavioral advertising Carnegie Mellon University researchers Aleecia M. McDonald and Lorrie Faith Cranor conducted this study of attitudes about Internet advertising. While many of the participants raised privacy issues in the first few minutes of discussion without any prompting about privacy, most knew little or nothing about online advertising and tracking.
• October 30, 2009 NPR series examines digital privacy National Public Radio (NPR) has launched series that looks at many aspects of digital privacy, including a discussion on cell phone privacy, social networking, and privacy law.
• September 09, 2009 Privacy "report card" gives Obama Administration mediocre grades The Electronic Privacy Information Center released the results of a privacy "report card," grading the Obama Administration on its activities with regard to consumer privacy, medical privacy, cybersecurity, and civil liberties.
• June 04, 2009 'Web bugs' allow widespread online data sharing Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Information released a report on June 1 showing that the most popular Web sites in the United States all share data with their corporate affiliates and allow third parties to collect information directly by using tracking beacons known as "Web bugs" - despite the sites' claims that they don't share user data with third parties.

Coalition

• January 29, 2010 Privacy and Fair Information Practices should guide FCC Consumer Action and other consumer advocates sent comments to the Federal Communications Commission describing the collection and use of personal data by companies, problems with industry self-regulatory models, and principles and standards that should serve as the foundation of consumer privacy protection.
• December 02, 2009 Report cards grade privacy of online personal health records Consumer Action's coalition partner, Patient Privacy Rights, has launched a report card that evaluates the privacy options in five popular personal health records systems.
• October 22, 2009 DHS privacy report falls short Consumer Action signed on to a letter detailing specifically how the Department of Homeland Security's Chief Privacy Officer has failed to safeguard the privacy of Americans.
• April 30, 2008 Recommendations to the FTC on behavioral advertising Consumer Action, in conjunction with its Privacy Coalition partners, has asked the Federal Trade Commission to consider enforcement a necessary part of their principles in dealing with online behavioral advertising.
• June 29, 2006 Consumer Coalition for Health Privacy The mission of the Consumer Coalition for Health Privacy* — organized by the Health Privacy Project — is to educate and empower healthcare consumers to have a prominent and informed voice on health privacy issues at the federal, state, and local levels.

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