From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Oversight of Internet Privacy (Title was changed to reflect proper report name.) Description: This podcast explores the government's role in ensuring your online information is protected. Related GAO Work: GAO-19-52: Internet Privacy: Additional Federal Authority Could Enhance Consumer Protection and Provide Flexibility Released: February 2019 [ Background Music ] [ Alicia-Puente Cackley: ] Things evolve rapidly on the internet and new products are always being -- being created. [ Mark Goldstein: ] The U.S. lacks a comprehensive internet privacy law. [ Matt Oldham: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm Matt Oldham. About 75 percent of Americans use the internet. And in many cases, consumers' personal information is collected and stored as we go to the web for things like shopping or social networking. I'm with two guests today, Alicia Puente Cackley, a Financial Markets and Community Investments director, and Mark Goldstein, a Physical Infrastructure director, and they led a GAO report on the role the federal government plays in protecting Americans' online information. So, thank you for being here, Alicia and Mark. [ Alicia-Puente Cackley: ] You're welcome. [ Mark Goldstein: ] Happy to be here. [ Matt Oldham: ] Can we be confident our personal information on the internet is private? [ Mark Goldstein: ] I think that because we are very concerned, and the report shows that many stakeholders are also very concerned that protections that are in place today are not sufficient to be able to assure consumers that their information -- when they're on the internet -- is protected. [ Matt Oldham: ] Last year, Facebook said data on 87 million of its users may have been improperly shared. Are there any laws currently defining the government's responsibility in cases like this? [ Alicia-Puente Cackley: ] The Federal Trade Commission has authority to protect consumers from what they call unfair and deceptive trade practices. But that is a very broad description and the kinds of issues that come up with internet privacy concerns are not clearly and specifically covered. [ Matt Oldham: ] Speaking of these internet privacy concerns, earlier, I mentioned shopping online and social networking, are there any other areas that are of particular concern when it comes to Americans' internet privacy? [ Alicia-Puente Cackley: ] Quite a few, I mean there's just the issue of public disclosure of personal information through data breaches, things like that, is a clear concern. There are issues of the financial and non-financial harm that can come to people through private, personal information that's disclosed on the internet. There's issues around the fact that consumers don't have any control over what's collected, how it's used, how it's shared. And they often don't understand what's collected and how it's used. [ Mark Goldstein: ] I would add that there are some specific areas beyond online shopping, social networking -- web browsing, in general, search terms that you might use on the web, location services that you might use. Any time people use the web, they are likely that that information might be made available to third parties and without their knowledge or consent. [ Matt Oldham: ] So, then what's stopping the Federal Trade Commission from issuing new regulations designed to prevent the next incident of improperly shared consumer data? [ Mark Goldstein: ] In general, the law that governs internet privacy is -- as we've said earlier, it's part of the broader act that's in place and has been in place for many years. There are regulatory processes the FTC can follow, but there are pretty big hurdles that they have to jump over in order to meet requirements to be able to go after people who are doing these kinds of things. So, it's not as easy as it might seem. They have a different set of rules that other agencies have at this point in time. [ Alicia-Puente Cackley: ] Yes, that's right. FTC's set of procedures for rule making are somewhat more cumbersome than the standard set of procedures that other agencies use and that has typically led them not to engage in rule making. [ Background Music ] [ Matt Oldham: ] So, it sounds like there is some concern with protecting online personal information but there are few laws or regulations currently on the books and they address issues like internet privacy for children. So, what recommendations does the report provide? [ Alicia-Puente Cackley: ] The report is recommending that Congress consider developing comprehensive legislation on internet privacy. We think that doing that would enhance consumer protections but still provide flexibility in order to address the fact that things evolve rapidly on the internet and new products are always being created, so the law should both consider what authorities agencies have to have in order to oversee internet privacy, and also whether they have appropriate rule making authority, but balance out the need for both oversight and flexibility for innovation at the same time. [ Matt Oldham: ] So, what do you believe is the bottom line of the report? [ Mark Goldstein: ] I think that that's really the bottom line, is that the U.S. lacks the comprehensive internet privacy law. Other countries then, including the European Union, have gone further than the United States has in this area. So this kind of the law could establish specific standards that could be used, it could determine which agencies are specifically responsible for enforcing the law, and still balancing people's rights to protect their privacy versus the need to be able to use these kinds of services in the commercial world. [ Matt Oldham: ] Alicia Puente Cackley is a Financial Markets and Community Investments director, and Mark Goldstein is a Physical Infrastructure director, both with GAO. And we were talking about what the government does to protect the privacy of our personal data online. Thank you both for your time. [ Alicia-Puente Cackley: ] You're very welcome. [ Mark Goldstein: ] Thank you. [ Background Music ] [ Matt Oldham: ] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To hear more podcasts, subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts. [ Background Music ] [ Matt Oldham: ] For more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, visit us as gao.gov.