Congress must establish clear, equitable internet rules — now

Now that the dust from last week’s dramatic Mark Zuckerberg testimony has settled, those of us hoping for real changes to internet privacy standards are asking: What will Congress actually do to keep the Facebook crisis from happening again? 

In the wake of last week’s hearing, Congress has a tremendous, but brief, opportunity to act. Here are three steps they should take — starting now. 

First, let’s make all firms in the internet space adhere to a single clear, common set of privacy principles. Right now, internet privacy is a grab bag. Many users were surprised to learn that they can actually control some of what Facebook shares, but its not intuitive, transparent or for many, easy. 

 Think, for example, about how many times you tap the “I agree” button on your smartphone to download an app without having the slightest notion of what you’ve agreed to.

Furthermore, the information that Facebook collects is different than what Google or LinkedIn collects, or what your internet service provider may ask for.