Comments on ‘Information Privacy and Innovation in the Internet Economy’

These comments are prepared with the aim of clarifying the contribution, insights, and context of the academic research we have done in the area of digital privacy. We have submitted a similar document in response to the FTC Staff Report on ‘Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers’. In terms of the specific questions asked in the ‘Information Privacy and Innovation in the Internet Economy’ document, our research provides insight into (1) ’What is the best way of promoting transparency so as to promote informed choices?’, and (2) ‘Are there lessons from sector-specific [other] privacy laws–their development, their contents, or their enforcement–that could inform U.S. commercial data privacy policy?’