Comments on: Federal Trade Commission Watching Your Privacy

By: Melanie Wyne

Melanie Wyne — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 01:46:01 +0000

In Today’s NYT more from the FTC in a story titled “Has the Internet Gone Beyond Privacy Policies?”

Its worth a read. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/ftc-has-internet-gone-beyond-privacy-policies/

By: AgentGenius

AgentGenius — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:43:23 +0000

#agnow If only my crystal ball would give me lottery numbers! Thanks, Melanie! Looking forward to the play by plays... http://bit.ly/5EAh0S

By: AgentGenius

AgentGenius — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:05:23 +0000

#agnow Hey Benn, You were more prescient than I realized. Just found this on the Twitter. Looks like the FTC wi... http://bit.ly/5EAh0S

By: Jen Vollmer

Jen Vollmer — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:21:19 +0000

RT @RealtorAction: FTC to Refocus Privacy Efforts . Consumer Protection Leads New Direction http://bit.ly/5sD1tC

By: Realtor Action Ctr

Realtor Action Ctr — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:17:20 +0000

FTC to Refocus Privacy Efforts . Consumer Protection Leads New Direction http://bit.ly/5sD1tC

By: Benn Rosales

Benn Rosales — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:43:22 +0000

If only my crystal ball would give me lottery numbers! Thanks, Melanie! Looking forward to the play by plays- one thing I have to say about the FTC is how they’re going about all of this, it’s a government agency that’s actually doing more listening and engaging rather than shoving policy or intimidating rhetoric down anyone’s throats. They’ve really been hands on, and I think it’s commendable.

By: Melanie Wyne

Melanie Wyne — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:02:00 +0000

New Agent Genius post on Privacy and the FTC. Leave a comment! "So I’ve notice a good deal of discussion here ...http://bit.ly/5sD1tC

By: Melanie Wyne

Melanie Wyne — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:41:39 +0000

Hey Benn,

You were more prescient than I realized. Just found this on the Twitter. Looks like the FTC will hold another workshop this month on privacy implications of the cloud, mobile and social networking. I’ll be there, tweeting oh..and summarizing for the AG tribe.

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2010/01/11/ftc-to-explore-cloud-security-privacy/

By: AgentGenius

AgentGenius — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:57:36 +0000

#agnow Craig, I agree. Training is critical as, the best privacy policy in the world doesn't amount to much if ... http://bit.ly/5EAh0S

By: AgentGenius

AgentGenius — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:48:39 +0000

#agnow Ben, Interesting questions--As usual, you are thinking a few steps ahead. Most of the proposals currently ... http://bit.ly/5EAh0S

By: AgentGenius

AgentGenius — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:39:42 +0000

#agnow For a long time, privacy hasn't been looked at in Real Estate and that day is fast approching where that wil... http://bit.ly/5EAh0S

By: Melanie Wyne

Melanie Wyne — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:57:35 +0000

Craig,

I agree. Training is critical as, the best privacy policy in the world doesn’t amount to much if your employees don’t follow it. The FTC link I posted in the earlier comment is a good place to start. NAR is working on additional resources too–I’ll keep you posted.

By: Melanie Wyne

Melanie Wyne — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:48:38 +0000

Ben,
Interesting questions–As usual, you are thinking a few steps ahead. Most of the proposals currently on the table deal with PII stored by the business–i.e. on a laptop or on a server the business has under its control– (and some proposals for that matter deal with hard copy PII.)

Facebook,Twitter and other social media messages are technically controlled by Facebook and Twitter so, at the moment I don’t see much risk of rules implicating Realtors unless of course they are harvesting that data and keeping stored in a database.

It makes good sense for Realtors to think strategically about what Personally Identifiable Information they collect and store, and only keep that information that is critical to doing business.

By: Craig J Frooninckx

Craig J Frooninckx — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:00:50 +0000

For a long time, privacy hasn’t been looked at in Real Estate and that day is fast approching where that will have to be corrected. Too many agents don’t understand what data should be protected and how to protect it. The consumer is only trusting us to secure their documents. More training in this area will be a good idea.

By: Benn Rosales

Benn Rosales — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:52:59 +0000

Melanie, I think where real estate agents are going to be the most challenged is quantified messaging as email. What I mean by that is agents are required in most cases to document in one place and store all electronic communications (quantified today email). Texting, Facebook messaging, Tweets, Direct Messages, Blog comments, etc, what would fall into that, and the challenge of collecting it all into one place boggles the mind- the problem is, you can’t ignore it because for our protection and you want it to qualify as email, but what makes sense?

Also, how does one protect who their consumers are if our ‘friends’ can be seen by anyone?

What constitutes the line in marketing to the consumer and permission to do so?

Are social networks going to fall into the same category of the telephone? DNC protections and all?

These are just a few things I can see as challenges.

By: Melanie Wyne

Melanie Wyne — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:35:37 +0000

Joe–you are spot on. This has the potential to have broad impact in an area where many in real estate have not paid attention for a long time.

Data security is a slightly different but related topic and Washington is poised to take action there too. Its really important for businesses to protect PII. The FTC has good, easy to digest information on the topic here http://www.ftc.gov/infosecurity/

By: Joe Loomer

Joe Loomer — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:13:13 +0000

I’ll be looking for updates too, Melanie – thanks for the info!

This has such broad implications it’s almost incomprehensible. Everything from tagging client’s houses in Facebook pics to ensuring your own database is protected.

Navy Chief, Navy Pride

By: Ken Brand

Ken Brand — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:03:25 +0000

you = your. Wish comments let you go back in and edit. Cheers.

By: Ken Brand

Ken Brand — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:02:29 +0000

Wow. I’ll be looking forward to you updates. Thanks.