The plan would give citizens more control over how their personal information is collected and used by online companies. It also sets standards regarding individual control, transparency, and accountability.

In a nutshell, this plan gives people the ability to opt out of having their personal data collected as well as forcing companies to adhere to clear and accessible privacy policies.

While most Internet companies already have privacy policies, many are so dense and complicated that few of us can read or understand them. And even if we do, most policies do not fully explain how the company uses our consumer data.

User Data For Sale

What most of us probably do not know is that many Internet companies, such as Facebook and Google, generate all their enormous revenue by collecting user data and selling it to advertisers. We don’t know about this because these companies do not make it clear. This new plan aims to change that.

While this plan is voluntary, over 90% of companies who deliver targeted online ads have agreed to comply with the plan’s recommendations. This is a big deal, because web companies have proven time and time again that they cannot be relied upon to police themselves.

Indeed, up until now, most companies do whatever they want until someone slaps their hand.

Facebook and Google have both been accused by the FTC in the past year for improper use of user information. Most recently, Google has announced that users will no longer have the ability to opt of data collection if they want to use Google’s services, such as Gmail and YouTube.

The FTC will have the ability to enforce compliance with these guidelines, which is good news, as guidelines that have no teeth are virtually worthless.

This privacy “bill of rights” is the outcome of several efforts to create and enforce privacy standards over the last few years by advertisers, Internet companies, and software companies.

While this plan is not currently the law of the land, it is encouraging, and a step in the right direction regarding our online privacy.

1. Get your credit report and analyze it for any suspicious activity; pay attention to any accounts or inquiries that were not initiated by you.
2. If you’ve discovered that your credit was used fraudulently, freeze your account until you can determine the extent of the breach.
3. Contact the credit bureaus and place a fraud alert on your file. This will last for three months, and then you can determine whether to renew it. The fraud alert will force companies that seek to extend credit toward you to perform a more detailed verification process than usual.
4. Notify the companies that you currently have accounts with that your identity has been stolen. You may need to have new cards issued and you may want to have them block transactions automatically that are out of your geographic region. This will help to flag suspicious activity.
5. Change all your passwords and user names. Do not access any of your financial records online without your information and privacy encrypted.