Hillicon Valley is reporting the Federal Trade Commission “has made a major shift in its efforts to protect privacy online by focusing on any information that can “reasonably be connected to a device or a person.” “Maneesha Mithal, the associate director of the FTC’s privacy division, said the agency’s latest report on privacy moves away from previous rules and regulations that were focused on securing personally identifiable information such as names, Social Security numbers and addresses.”  But what’s that mean?  It’s hard to say.  Even for Mithal, who tells the blog the new standard is “‘unpredictable’ and ‘doesn’t provide guidance.’”

But not to worry, all you companies out there, the FTC is planning to set the rules as it goes along.  “The FTC’s decisions and enforcement actions will serve a kind of case law to help companies understand what information to protect and how.”