Washington D.C. -- “Consumer Federation of America has concluded that there is no point in continuing to participate in the multi-stakeholder process convened by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to develop a voluntary code of conduct to protect consumers’ privacy when companies use facial recognition technology.  This is an inherently flawed process because there is no incentive for companies to agree to anything that might constrain their current or future business practices. In the 16 months that the process has dragged on there has been no meaningful progress and it has become clear that we will be unable to reach consensus on fundamental issues such as consumer consent to be subject to facial recognition. That is why I and other privacy advocates announced today that we are withdrawing from further negotiations.

The previous NTIA multi-stakeholder process to develop a code of conduct for mobile app privacy disclosures was also disappointing. In the end, CFA could not support it because, in our view, the disclosures were inadequate and could actually mislead consumers into thinking that their personal information was shared more narrowly than might be the case.

This is not the way to advance privacy protection in the United States. If we are serious about privacy here at home and want to sell American products and services to consumers abroad, we need to enact legislation that gives consumers robust, enforceable privacy rights and sets clear parameters within which American businesses can innovate.”

Contact: Susan Grant, sgrant@consumerfed.org

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Susan Grant is Director of Consumer Protection and Privacy at Consumer Federation of America, an association of more than 250 nonprofit consumer organizations that was established in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, advocacy and education.