Privacy
and government affairs officers from a number of the largest tech
companies plan to convene in San Francisco on Wednesday to discuss how
to tackle growing questions and concerns about consumer privacy
online.
Why it matters: It's
been a tough year for the industry on the privacy front, driven
largely by Europe's new privacy regime and the media frenzy around
Facebook's Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
What's happening: The
Information Technology Industry Council, a Washington trade group that
represents major tech companies, organized an all-day meeting to
jump-start the conversations.
- Members
include Facebook, Google, Apple, Salesforce,
IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, Dropbox, and others. ITI
expects the meeting to be attended by companies across the
industry's sectors, including hardware, software and device makers —
but declined to say which companies would be there.
- Dean
Garfield, ITI CEO and president, told Axios that tech companies are
aware there's a new sense of urgency around consumer privacy.
- "My
experience is that they’ve always viewed privacy as a foundational
principle, but the question of how do you give meaning to it and
talk about it in a way that resonates is now something that’s more
pressing," he said.
Driving the news: Europe's
strict and sweeping privacy rules, GDPR, went into effect last month
and are already considered de-facto standards because they affect so
many U.S. companies. On top of that, California lawmakers are scrambling
to pass a privacy bill before a major privacy
initiative ends up on the November ballot.
- As Axios
reported last week, the Trump administration is exploring
possible approaches to create a framework for how companies can use
and share consumers' online data.
- ITI
says its focus on privacy began before Gail Slater, the Trump
advisor leading discussions on privacy, arrived at the White House,
and that this process is not a direct result of those conversations.
U.S. vs EU: The
U.S. has generally approached privacy rules on a sector-by-sector
basis, meaning the health care industry has different privacy
standards than the financial industry. Tech companies handle data
according to their privacy policies and other agreements, such as the
Privacy Shield between the EU and U.S. And the FTC makes sure
companies stay true to their promises to consumers.
- "Just
because Europe has taken a comprehensive approach doesn't mean our
different approach is deficient," Garfield said. "And just because
Europe is early doesn't mean it's best or final. But we should
always be thinking about how we evolve to make sure consumers have
trust in our products."
Our take: It
will be very difficult to get such a diverse group of companies to
reach consensus about privacy, which has become incredibly complicated
in the internet era, as companies with different business models want
different standards. This process will extend far beyond this week's
meeting.