Google is sharing its FTC Roundtable Comments document it submitted last week in response to the FTC’s recent "Exploring Privacy" roundtable series. This series was designed for the discussion of ways to protect consumer privacy, and included leaders from government, advocacy, academia, and industry.
"Fair warning, it can be a bit of a dense document, particularly for the privacy layperson, says Will DeVries, Policy Counsel for Google. "But if you’ve ever wanted to know more about privacy at Google, then it’s definitely worth a read."
The document outlines Google’s support for:
* Strong industry commitments to ensure transparency, user control, and security in Internet services for consumers. Self-regulatory standards, such as the recent work done in online behavioral advertising, have encouraged companies to innovate in the area of privacy and have enhanced user choices in the environment as a whole.
* Comprehensive privacy standards and strengthened protections from government intrusion. Google has long supported comprehensive federal privacy legislation to establish baseline privacy protections for consumers. In addition, Google recently announced its support for the reform of federal law governing government access to online records as part of the Digital Due Process coalition
* FTC leadership in the shaping of global privacy standards. The FTC, in conjunction with the Commerce Department and other stakeholders, has a unique opportunity to develop a workable set of global privacy standards that are comprehensive, flexible, and effective. The current patchwork of rules and enforcement across multiple jurisdictions does not provide adequate protection for consumers or sufficient certainty for companies offering services on the global Internet.
It explores Google’s support for privacy, looking at Google’s internal approach, interest-based advertising, data portability, the Google Dashboard, and Google’s policy recommendations.
Google highlights a "strong connection" between privacy and free expression, and Google’s efforts to increase global access to information.