Presentation
of Discussion from the
“Consumer
Protection, Security & Privacy” Panel
of the White
House Technology Forum on Aging
October 4
& 5
Presented by
Phillip C. McKee, III
National
Consumers League
Panel Co-Chairs:
Phillip C. McKee, III (NCL) & Laura Polacheck (AARP)
Our breakout panel began its discussions after making a few basic assumptions. First among those was agreement on the six points that make up adequate consumer protection. These are:
ü Accessibility/Availability
ü Choice
ü Redress (the ability to get a refund/replacement)
ü Fair Disclosure
ü Security/Privacy
ü Protection From Fraud
We also assumed that there will always be a need for consumer protection. New technologies will open new opportunities for fraud and abuse of consumers, ways that cannot easily be predicted. Prevention through education will always be important but no enforcement or technology will ever be able to prevent all fraud or abuse without destroying independence or accessibility.
When families discover that an elderly family member has been the victim of fraud they often attempt to prevent all future occurrences. For example, the AOL Master Account can set permissions for all sub-accounts. An adult child in control of the Master Account can limit the types of web sites an elderly parent can visit. The Master Account can set up a list of e-mail accounts and only those addresses are allowed to send e-mails to the sub-account. The elderly victim could even be barred from entering chat rooms. You might as well not go online with those kinds of restrictions on an adult. Admittedly that is an over-reaction. But consumer protection will always be in some sense reactive, assisting after a problem has surfaced. However, it must be a measured reaction that preserves the dignity and independence of the victim.
We also assumed that private citizens are consumers of both corporate and government goods and services and that consumer protection principles apply to both.
Grand Challenge
Our grand challenge to this forum is to use technology to increase consumer access to goods and services without isolating the elderly consumer. For example, e-commerce makes it possible for an older consumer to purchase almost all needs from home and have those items delivered. But this can lead to social isolation. The only time there is any personal contact in this situation is when the consumer signs for the packages and when they call up customer service. Not only must technology be designed to be accessible for those with differing physical needs but also help foster social interactions. Technology that helps such interactions should be encouraged in every way possible. Technology should also minimize the opportunity for fraud even if it cannot prevent or eliminate it.
Three Tasks For The Present
Ø If we cannot prevent fraud then there should be continued and expanded vigorous enforcement as well as whatever built-in safeguards that are possible. Examples of such safeguards are:
ü Standards in presentation of information should be established (either voluntary or mandatory) so that the display does not accidentally hide necessary information from older consumers. This will require some basic research into how different colors and font styles are perceived by individuals with differing sight abilities. For example, extreme fine print or font style which makes it difficult for an older consumer to read a return policy or a product should not be allowed. Even the color choices of font and background can hide information from someone with certain types of sight disabilities. This will allow for an increased transparency of transaction.
ü We could establish a sort of accrediting agency to serve as an ethical standards group for e-commerce similar to those that currently provide a guarantee of legitimacy in hospitals and educational institutions. This will provide consumers with a single checkpoint for legitimacy. This entity must also have a real power of enforcement against violators.
Ø Currently, people fall through gaps created by differing jurisdictions of government programs. Greater interagency cooperation is needed to bring these seniors and others into coverage. For example, some seniors are covered by Medicare but their coverage is incomplete. Others are covered by the VA and others are covered by both or neither. A senior may prefer to go to a personal physician paid for by Medicare due to personal preference. But Medicare doesn’t cover the prescription drug his health needs. So he goes to the VA and tries to replicate his doctors visit so that he can get the prescription. If he does, wonderful. If he doesn’t, his life could be in danger. Greater cooperation would eliminate this problem.
Ø The most important of our three tasks and the one task that had unanimous approval was the elimination of the current opt-out standard and the creation of a mandatory opt-in requirement for the collection of personal identifying information. Currently, businesses are governed only by their own privacy policies concerning what information they collect about consumers, how that information is used, and with whom it is shared (with a few minor exceptions for certain financial transactions). If a consumer wishes for their information not to be shared or collected he/she must inform the business and make an affirmative opt-out statement. Instead, businesses should be required to get a consumer’s affirmative permission to collect and use certain types of personal identifying information. This would be standard throughout the commercial community so that consumers won’t be covered by different privacy policies for each transaction. The same opt-in would also be required to allow a company to share that information with other companies. This would prevent the large scale sale of certain types of consumer information such as social security numbers, bank account and credit account information, etc., that currently endanger the privacy of consumers and can lead to identity theft.
Measuring Success
Unfortunately, much of our grand challenge is qualitative and not qualitative. So, while success in our three tasks can be measured by their accomplishment, our grand challenge must be measured by other means. One measure will be the ability to successfully instantiate these changes into law. Another is to measure the rate of occurrence of fraud complaints and identity theft complaints to regulators and consumer groups. Finally, behavioral science researchers could measure consumers’ perception of accessibility and isolation.
Finally, I would like to thank my co-chair Laura Polacheck, all of our panel members who made so many wonderful contributions, and our hosts from the White House Office of Technology and the Veterans Administration.