• Wall Street Journal, Thursday, December 16, 2010 12:39 PM

Seeking the creation of an Internet "privacy bill of rights" for U.S consumers, the Obama administration is calling for the formation of a Privacy Policy Office. "The U.S. Commerce Department's report stopped short of calling directly for specific privacy legislation," reports The Wall Street Journal. "Instead, it recommends a 'framework' to protect people from a burgeoning personal data-gathering industry and fragmented U.S. privacy laws that cover certain types of data but not others." To date, as The Journal notes, the U.S. government has taken a largely "hands off" approach to the Web.

The Commerce Department report, however, suggests that the use of personal information online has increased to such a degree that privacy laws may now be needed to restore consumer trust in the medium. What about the current state of Internet privacy notices? Not even close to sufficient, according to the report, which says consumers shouldn't be expected to read and understand legal jargon contained in privacy policies "that nobody understands, if they say anything about privacy at all." The report is preliminary and is expected to be completed next year, according to The Journal.

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