Gates urges federal data privacy law

WASHINGTON--Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has added to his legislative wish list, renewing his push for Congress to pass an "all-inclusive" consumer privacy and security law by year's end.

In his keynote speech at a dinner here Wednesday hosted by the advocacy group Center for Democracy and Technology, Gates shifted his focus away from the calls for education and immigration changes that dominated his appearance at a morning Senate hearing.

There's a critical need for federal privacy rules that require transparency about data collection practices, grant users access to their own data and dictate what companies must do if a breach occurs, Gates told an audience of about 900 people in a cavernous ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel here.

Microsoft isn't alone in requesting federal privacy legislation. The Windows maker is allied with a number of tech titans, including eBay, Hewlett-Packard, Google, Intel and Oracle, that have begun lobbying Congress to override what they deem a patchwork of disparate state laws.

Privacy protection requires a balancing act, Gates acknowledged. Say that a company wants to track down the culprit who installed malware on a user's machine--or, in more extreme cases, nab a terrorist. Without "some degree of information being retained," that process would be much more difficult, he said.

The key is to put in place "explicit policies about where information can be used while at the same time having enough information to track down egregious behavior," Gates said.

Among the attendees were officials from the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission, a number of state attorneys general, and a handful of congressional representatives.

In a 10-minute speech delivered just before Gates' appearance, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) spoke broadly about the added privacy concerns he believes technological advances have introduced.

The veteran senator also told the crowd that he plans to pursue passage of his Personal Data Privacy Act again this year. That sweeping measure would, among other things, impose fines, prison time, or both on those who intentionally conceal information related to a security breach that causes "economic damage to one or more persons."

"I don't want to stop the technologies; I want to protect our privacy," Leahy said. "I think we can do both."

[Lee in San Diego]

Apparently

Apparently the USA workforce is not up for the job and we need to
bring in unlimited H1-B security experts /sarcasm

[Lee in San Diego]

Apparently

Apparently the USA workforce is not up for the job and we need to
bring in unlimited H1-B security experts /sarcasm

[wbenton]

Microsoft on Security...

Now that's an oxymoron at best.

A national security threat at worst!!!

Walt

[wbenton]

Microsoft on Security...

Now that's an oxymoron at best.

A national security threat at worst!!!

Walt

[jefframse]

Perhaps now IS a good time to do this

Perhaps now is a good time to set up paramaters of how private data can be collected and used.
If we wait until our private information is no longer private it will be hard to go back and set the standards. Path Dependency will be 'in play' making it difficult for the authorities to give up the access and use of private information if they are already accustomed to it. I feel that the authorities have lots of information already, and that the balance that Bill Gates asks for in the use and acquisition of private information is well articulated. Now is the time, not later with the ball already rolling down the hill, to put on the brakes to unreasonable access and use of private information.

[jefframse]

Perhaps now IS a good time to do this

Perhaps now is a good time to set up paramaters of how private data can be collected and used.
If we wait until our private information is no longer private it will be hard to go back and set the standards. Path Dependency will be 'in play' making it difficult for the authorities to give up the access and use of private information if they are already accustomed to it. I feel that the authorities have lots of information already, and that the balance that Bill Gates asks for in the use and acquisition of private information is well articulated. Now is the time, not later with the ball already rolling down the hill, to put on the brakes to unreasonable access and use of private information.