GLOBAL JOURNALIST: Privacy in the age of online social networking

Charles Davis, associate professor, Missouri School of Journalism: More than 500 million people across the globe are now on Facebook, and Google has more than 1 million servers. The exchange of personal data around the world is unprecedented. Although the public expects a certain amount of privacy, many people today share everything online, from their contact information to their favorite stores. The EU Commission is working on provisions that will allow residents to exercise the “right to be forgotten” or to permanently remove personal data from the Internet. The new law on data protection would regulate how long information on Facebook could be stored online. Meanwhile, privacy advocates in the United States are also pushing for personal data regulations. Is the protection of personal data a fundamental right, as European Commissioner Viviane Reding says? Should Internet companies be able to pass on personal data to third parties without users’ knowledge? To discuss these questions, our guests are Tanzina Vega, media reporter at the New York Times; Richard Varn, president, RJIV Consulting, executive director, Coalition for Sensible Public Records Access, Des Moines, Iowa; Peter Swire, law professor, Ohio State University, Columbus; and Milo Yiannopoulos, technology columnist, UK Telegraph, in London. Tanzina, bring us up to speed on the Federal Trade Commission and the Commerce Department’s plans around the online privacy space.