A group of leading technology manufacturers today unveiled a voluntary code of conduct to protect the privacy of people who visit their Web sites. The principles are intended to give consumers "confidence and trust" that privacy rights will be respected when they engage in electronic commerce, said Rhett Dawson, president of the Information Technology Industry Council.
The council includes major PC-makers like Dell Computer Corp. and Compaq Computer Corp., chipmakers like Intel Corp. and Motorola Inc., and manufacturers of related gear like AMP Inc. and Lexmark International Group Inc.
The guidelines recommend that a company notify consumers of what personal data is being collected and allow them some degree of choice over how data is used. Technological solutions should be employed, "enabling individual data providers to exercise choice and control over their personal data," the guidelines said. Companies should also limit data collected to that needed for valid business reasons, and ensure its accuracy and security.
The guidelines are not binding on the council's 31 members. Each company will enact its own privacy standards using the guidelines as a starting point. That fact is troubling to privacy advocates. Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, said, "I don't see how voluntary guidelines without enforcement mechanisms are going to accomplish that goal."
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Free speech on trial: A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals today heard the government's appeal of a landmark ruling that held that software programs are literary works protected under the First Amendment.
Judge Marilyn Hall Patel had ruled in Bernstein v. Department of State that Daniel Bernstein can export his encrypted mail program, Snuffle, and make it available online without an export license.
But Scott McIntosh, an attorney representing the Commerce Department, told the San Francisco-based panel today that the code should be viewed not as a form of speech but as a product that in the wrong hands could jeopardize national security. The three justices grilled McIntosh during his allotted 20 minutes, often preventing him from finishing his sentences.
Cindy Cohn, who headed Bernstein's legal team, argued that Snuffle was an expression of free speech and should be protected from the kind of plan that the government uses to regulate code. Compared with the harried questioning of McIntosh, the justices questioned Cohn fewer times, allowing her to finish her sentences more often.
Cohn said afterward that she was pleased with the hearing, although she declined to speculate on the outcome. A decision by the court could come at any time over the next few weeks. (8.Dec.97)
