Close on the heels of various online privacy issues, members of a US Senate committee have reportedly grilled Google, Facebook, Apple and AT&T, seeking assurance to protect user information in the future. During a hearing held by the Senate Commerce Committee, the Senators questioned the need for a new legislation to protect users' personal information online.
The hearing came on the heels of privacy issues involving these companies - Google's collection of unsecured data from private Wi-Fi networks; Facebook's frequently shifting and allegedly confusing privacy settings; and AT&T's disclosure of more than 100,000 e-mail addresses of Apple iPad owners.
The Chairman of the committee, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, said that legislators must ask whether Americans 'fully understand and appreciate what information is being collected about them, and whether or not they are empowered to stop certain practices from taking place'. According to Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jonathan Leibowitz, people often don't read privacy policies on websites and Internet companies' privacy policies didn't necessarily protect users.
Sen. John F. Kerry has announced plans to work with Sen. Mark Pryor on an online privacy bill, with hopes to pass it early next year.
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