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Major tech companies, including Google and Apple, are set to meet on Wednesday in San Francisco, California to discuss prevailing concerns over online privacy.
According to reports, the event was organized by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), whose member companies also include AMD, Amazon, Dropbox, Facebook, IBM, Intel, Lenovo, Logitech, Mastercard, Microsoft, Samsung, and many more.
Meanwhile, Axios first reported that the event is a much-needed gathering following Facebook’s massive private information leak scandal that involved the analytics firm Cambridge Analytica.
Earlier this year, the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke out, revealing that the data of over 50 million Facebook users was collected and utilized for the firm’s services — without the consumers' knowledge — for targeted political ads during the last United States presidential election.
With a tech company as large as Facebook caught mishandling private user data, there has been a growing concern over how other tech giants are protecting their customers’ information. ITI CEO and president Dean Garfield realized that, telling Axios, “My experience is that they’ve always viewed privacy as a foundational principle, but the question of how do you give meaning to it and talk about it in a way that resonates is now something that’s more pressing.”
The implementation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) beginning in May is also seen as a basis for setting the meeting. The GDPR, although centered on EU territories, has reportedly affected tech companies based in the U.S. Meanwhile, tech companies are also likely going to discuss the local online privacy bill being pushed by California lawmakers, which could be included in the ballot for the 2018 midterm elections in November.
Although the specific agendas of the high-profile meeting are under wraps, it is likely that these companies are going to try to come up with propositions for the United States' version of GDPR.
Garfield said that the EU’s GDPR does not necessarily mean it is the “best or final” standard for online privacy policies just because it was implemented first. He added, “Just because Europe has taken a comprehensive approach doesn't mean our different approach is deficient. … We should always be thinking about how we evolve to make sure consumers have trust in our products."
