State Attorneys General make privacy the focus of summer meeting

SEATTLE-The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) may have an ironical acronym, but their summer meeting here took its theme from a very serious consumer issue these days-privacy. Hosted by Christine Gregoire, president of NAAG and the Emerald State's attorney general, the meeting was attended by more than 30 state AGs, who listened intently to invited experts. All sides of the privacy debate were heard. That AGs have been taking on a more `activist' approach of late is not lost on them, (tobacco settlements were initiated at the state level, and 19 states and the federal government worked together in the Microsoft antitrust suit, for example) but it stems from the demand they hear at home to `do something' about the erosion of personal privacy, they claim. Then, there is the states rights side of things to consider. Gregoire said that AGs are very close to consumers. "They get calls from them every day," she said in an interview with The Olympian newspaper. "I think the dedication of this meeting totally to privacy is a reflection of what AGs are hearing back home, on the ground, in their offices." Privacy advocates attending the meeting said they don't expect much from Gregoire's plan to craft the "essential ingredients" of any privacy legislation Congress might consider and present it to them with the backing of the nation's attorney's general. The business lobby is too powerful, they said, and would defeat proposed legislation both nationally and in state legislatures. That happened here last winter and in 40 other states. While several privacy bills languish in Congress, the odds on them getting out of committee in an election year is seen as dim. With a presidential and congressional election ahead, it may be better for politicians to be free to make empty promises rather than risk losing the support (and financial contributions) of the banking, insurance and securities industries, they said. Last February, Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm filed notice of legal action against DoubleClick Inc., a Web banner ad placement firm. A lawsuit may soon follow if negotiations do not result in a settlement. Granholm also filed notice recently of intended legal action against operators of other Web sites that collect consumer information and share it with others without knowledge or consent. Several of the panels conducted at the meeting discussed the use of "cookies," those data tracers that are placed on a computer's hard drive. Some of them can remain active for as long as 20 years, one panelist informed. Paul Misener, Amazom.com's vice president of public policy told the AG audience that "We don't think any rules are necessary beyond what exists today: That you tell the truth." He advocated a standard of industry self-regulation. A report in the Seattle Post Intelligencer said that Microsoft had held closed-door meetings with the AGs that a spokesman for the software giant termed "productive." -caburger@cutimes.com