A brief history of privacy
By TATIANA PROPHET
1914
President Woodrow Wilson signs into the law the Federal Trade Commission Act creating the FTC, heir to the Bureau of Corporations created by President Theodore Roosevelt.
The act declares unlawful unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, and empowers the commission to issue “cease and desist” orders to corporations engaged in such behavior. Exemptions are banks, air carriers and “common carriers” which were regulated by the 1887 Interstate Commerce Act, amended by Congress in 1910 to include interstate telephone companies.
1934
President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Communications Act on June 19. It replaces the Federal Radio Commission with the Federal Communications Commission, expanding jurisdiction over both wired and wireless communication. The act is codified into law as Chapter 5 of Title 47 of United States Code. It regulates telephone and telegraph common carriers and their rates, allocates radio frequencies and licenses radio operators.
1970
Cray XMP Supercomputer
Computer I is the protocol established by the FCC for regulating telephone services (pure communication) and pure data processing. The agency determines that data processing is a competitive market with low barriers to entry, but the communications (telephone) market is approaching monopoly. To this end, Computer I establishes a barrier between the two sectors by requiring that to enter the data processing market, common carriers form a subsidiary with totally separate operations.
1974
Amid concerns about spying after the Watergate scandal, The Privacy Act of 1974 establishes practices governing the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of information about individuals by federal agencies. A system of records is a group of records under the control of an agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifier assigned to the individual.
1980
Computer II replaces Computer I, separating basic service from enhanced service. Basic service includes processing the movement of information, computer processing, security, protocol conversion and memory storage service is used in interstate communications that employees computer processing applications that act on the format, content, code, protocol or similar aspects of the subscriber’s transmitted information, provides the subscriber with additional, different or restructured information, or involves subscriber interaction with stored information.
1996
Congress passes the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which amends the law created by the Communications Act of 1934 to include Section 222 in U.S. code Title 47 Chapter 5, “Title II,” which defines the term customer proprietary network information (CPNI) and prohibits telecommunications carriers from using such information for anything other than providing telecommunications service. It specifically prohibits using CPNI for a carrier’s own marketing purposes. Only in aggregate form may a carrier use customer information for other purposes. Basic services become Title II "telecommunications carriers," which transmit information; enhanced services are classified as Title I "information service providers" (referring to the Title numbers in the original act of 1934. DSL companies are classified as carriers, while internet “portals” fall under information services. The act also lifts the ban on broadcast networks from owning cable companies. DSL ISPs are regulated by the FCC.
2002
The FCC rules that cable modem service is not a "cable service" as defined by the Communications Act. The agency added that cable modem service does not contain a separate "telecommunicationsservice" offering and therefore is not subject to common carrier regulation. Internet Service Providers move under the control of the FTC.
2004
California passes the first state law in the nation to require web sites to post a privacy policy, the California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA). It was amended in 2013 to require new privacy disclosures regarding tracking of online visits.
2005
Congress passes the Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005, mandating that the Attorney General designate a senior official in the Department of Justice to assume primary responsibility for privacy policy. Prior to this, section 1062 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 found that it was “the sense of Congress that each executive department or agency with law enforcement or antiterrorism functions should designate a privacy and civil liberties officer.
2010
Part of Google's privacy policy.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announces the creation of an Internet Policy Task Force. “Through a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) published in the Federal Register, the Commerce Department is seeking public comment from all Internet stakeholders – commercial, academic and civil society sectors and citizens – on the impact of current privacy laws in the United States and around the world on the pace of innovation in the information economy.”
2011
Sens. John Kerry and John McCain co-sponsor the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights, which defines and protects “covered information” as “(i) Personally identifiable information. (ii) Unique identifier information (iii) Any information that is collected, used, or stored in connection with personally identifiable information or unique identifier information in a manner that may reasonably be used by the party collecting the information to identify a specific individual.” California introduces a similar bill, which is opposed by Google and Facebook.
Kerry and McCain’s bill never makes it out of committee.
2012
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission publishes a report in which Chairman Jon Leibowitz stated that "data brokers have deceived the Internet users" and "we need to focus on that the data brokers have collected personal information without users knowing it." The FTC reported that user privacy is constantly exposed while surfing the Internet, recommending a Do Not Track mechanism and an opt-out function on browsers. The FTC also required data brokers to reveal their identities by establishing a centralized web site enabling transparent collection of personal information, and to allow users to access personal information collected by data brokers.
2012
The Obama Administration unveils the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights as a framework for future legislation, which will depend on input requested from stakeholders by the Commerce Department. Consumer and privacy groups are cautiously optimistic, with a few concerns, especially that stakeholders such as Google, Yahoo and Facebook will water down any future legislation.
2013
California adopts the Do Not Track disclosure law (Assembly Bill 370). It requires operators to identify the categories of personally identifiable information collected through the Web site or online service about individual consumers who use or visit its site and the categories of third-party persons or entities with whom the operator may share that personally identifiable information. A previous bill introduced in the California Senate was vehemently opposed by Google, Facebook and other companies as “unconstitutional.”
2015
Part of Google's privacy policy, right now.
