Legislation is slowly moving to catch up with growing anxiety amidst the public at large about privacy on the Internet and the collection of personally defining data by corporations. A new bill, dubbed the “BEST PRACTICES Act” (H.R.5777), introduced recently by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Illinois) would help address some of these concerns. The bill is still in the discussion phase and as a result invites the thoughts of interested parties in the industry.

And interested parties spoke up. Industry giants like Intel, Microsoft, and eBay have sent letters of support to Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection where it’s being deliberated along with another draft forwarded earlier this year by Reps. Boucher (D-Virginia) and Stearns (R-Florida) outlining another privacy framework.

Word on the letters of support by these major corporations comes through The Wall Street Journal,

The bill, introduced by Mr. Rush in July, would strengthen required disclosures about information-collection practices, and require companies to gain specific approval from Internet users before sharing information with others. It would also give the Federal Trade Commission additional authority to regulate the collection and use of personal information.

Mr. Rush hailed the companies’ support for his bill as a “sea change” toward tougher Internet-privacy rules, in a draft statement reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. “Consumers still get the short end of the stick when industry shows that it is incapable, or unwilling, to better articulate what information they are collecting from consumers and why we should trust industry to protect consumers’ personal information,” Mr. Rush is quoted as saying in the statement.

The current version of Rep. Rush’s bill hopes to strengthen Federal regulations on how corporations handle, store, and use private information gathered from customers, survey takers, and visitors to their websites. With identity theft and confidence games being a large staple of privacy breaches facilitated by the Internet, this will become ever more important as our culture further networks ourselves.

Although it is good to see these corporations taking a promotion of privacy and increased regulations, not all of their suggestions may be totally without selfish reasons.

One of the changes the corporations have suggested to the bills includes the removal of permitting users to sue companies for alleged breaches of privacy. Although details are sketchy on this part of the bill, it’s questionable if the bill allows simple allegations of a breach to give users standing verses actual demonstrated breaches. Certainly, it would be good to give class action lawsuits discovery and investigative powers to leverage the rights of citizens against the lawful responsibilities of corporations to keep their data safe in the case of what appears to be a pattern created by a yet undiscovered breach. The corporations could either be attempting to “cover their assets” or they’re actually legitimately trying to strengthen the bill.

There is a PDF version of the bill online (via Google reader).