Washington, D.C. – A new group called Future of Privacy is being created reportedly to help shape the discussion of privacy policy during the Obama administration. Jules Polonetsky, AOL’s former chief privacy officer will co-found the group along with Christopher Wolf of the Washington law firm Proskauer Rose LLP.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association expressed some skepticism about a group heavily funded by large corporations with sketchy records on privacy, especially with credible groups like the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy & Technology already tackling electronic privacy issues.
“Although we respect Jules and wish him the best, we have some concerns about the need for and direction of this new group,” said Ed Black, President & CEO of CCIA. “We will be interested to see whether this becomes a broad-based coalition that represents the diversity of the Internet industry and consumers and then what the agenda will really be. To have credibility, such a group must focus on protecting Internet users’ privacy from the overreaching government as well as e-commerce.”