Evolving technology in the marketplace demands an update to the loose set of rules that attempt to control how personal information is collected and brokered, GAO has said.
There is no overarching federal privacy law that governs the collection and sale of personal information among private-sector companies, including information resellers. Instead, specific guidelines exist, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which covers the use, sharing, and protection of personal information.
The current statutory framework for consumer privacy does not fully address new technologies such as the tracking of online behavior or mobile devices and the vastly increased marketplace for personal information, including the proliferation of information sharing among third parties, according to GAO-13-663.
It said gaps exist in the current statutory framework for privacy and that the framework does not fully reflect widely accepted principles for protecting the privacy and security of personal information that have served as a basis for many of the privacy recommendations federal agencies have made (as put forth in the Fair Information Practice Principles).
GAO called on Congress to consider strengthening the consumer privacy framework to reflect the effects of changes in technology and the increased market for consumer information – perhaps with new and more comprehensive legislation instead of the current piecemeal approach – but in such a way that protects privacy without inhibiting commerce and innovation.
OPM Requests Server Modifications to Ensure Delivery of Open Season Emails OPM has issued a request for agency server administrators to configure agency servers to allow 2013 open season emails to reach federal employees.
OPM explained the furlough may have caused some disruption to the availability of federal benefits open season material availability, and that in order to ensure employees receive information, it would contact federal employees directly through their work email addresses.
It asked agencies to continue their normal open season communications efforts, but to also permit mail from the following IP servers so they are not treated as spam / junk mail:
OPM Mail (SMTP) servers:
205.131.177.158
205.131.177.143
205.131.177.141
205.131.177.142
205.131.188.250
205.131.188.249
205.131.188.251
205.131.188.141
2620:109:20:2000::158
2620:109:20:2000::141
Source email address:
Openseason1@opm.gov
Openseason_2@opm.gov
Openseason3@opm.gov
Openseason4@opm.gov
Openseason5@opm.gov
Openseason6@opm.gov
Openseason7@opm.gov
Openseason8@opm.gov
Openseason9@opm.gov
Openseason10@opm.gov