WebProNews

Tag: World Economic Forum

  • Salesforce Co-CEO Says U.S. Needs National Privacy Law

    Salesforce Co-CEO Says U.S. Needs National Privacy Law

    Salesforce co-CEO Keith Block has come out in favor of a national privacy law, according to CNBC.

    Privacy is becoming one of the biggest battlegrounds for companies, governments and individuals alike. The U.S., however, does not have a comprehensive privacy law to outline what companies can and cannot do with individual data, or what rights individuals have to protect their privacy.

    In contrast, the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in 2018 and provides comprehensive privacy protections and gives consumers rights over their own data. Similarly, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) went into effect January 1, and provides similar protections. Although companies, such as Microsoft and Mozilla, have expanded GDPR and CCPA protections to all of their customers, there are far more companies that have not, and have no intention of doing so.

    At a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum (WEF), Keith Block said the U.S. needs its own version of the GDPR.

    “You have to applaud, for example, the European Union for coming up with GDPR and hopefully there will be a GDPR 2.0,” said Block.

    “There is no question there needs to be some sort of regulation in the United States. It would be terrific if we had a national data privacy law; instead we have privacy by zipcode, which is not a good outcome,” he said.

    As the issue continues to impact individuals and organizations, it will be interesting to see if the U.S. follow’s the EU’s lead.

  • Global Commission on Internet Governance Announced

    A new Global Commission on Internet Governance (GCIG) was announced today at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt has been named as chair for the GCIG.

    The GCIG has been founded by the Centre for International Governance Innovation and the Royal Institute of International Affairs as a two-year initiative to “produce a comprehensive stand on the future of multi-stakeholder internet governance.” The organization will have at least 25 members from around the world who are experts in the fields such as government policy and academia.

    The idea behind the GCIG is that it will promote debate about the future of global internet governance while also laying out a “strategic vision” for the future and a framework for such policies. The organization also hopes to “act as a rallying point for states that are striving for a continued free and open Internet.” The GCIG’s current four stated themes are improving the legitimacy of internet governance, stimulating innovation, ensuring online human rights, and avoiding systematic risks to the internet.

    “In most countries, increased attention is being given to all the issues of net freedom, net security and net governance,” said Bildt. “And they are, in my view, closely related to each other. The rapid evolution of the net has been made possible by the open and flexible model by which it has evolved and been governed. But increasingly this is coming under attack. And this is happening as issues of net freedom, net security and net surveillance are increasingly debated. Net freedom is as fundamental as freedom of information and freedom of speech in our societies.”