All eyes on online privacy

Flat screen displays in stores employ facial recognition technology to tailor ads to a customer's gender, age and ethnicity. Smart phone applications can track a user's identity, location and even friends. The personal information posted on social networks may be accessible by employers - or law enforcement. This brave new world demands a fundamental rethinking of the way that business, government and consumers deal with the huge amounts of data being generated and collected by emerging technologies, according to panelists at a roundtable sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday. The event at the UC Berkeley School of Law was the commission's second in a series of three public discussions exploring privacy in the digital age. "If we are to stay ahead of the technology curve, we must address the question of privacy by design sooner than later," said FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour during introductory remarks. She took issue with Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's recent comments that the "social norm" regarding privacy is changing as people become much more willing to share information online. Harbour said that surveys and behavior continually indicate that privacy is of utmost concern.