On Tuesday, Senators John Kerry and John McCain introduced the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011 to better protect consumers’ personal information while ensuring companies can continue to innovate based on the wealth of data they collect from consumers.

While largely praised by tech companies for not being overly restrictive, the bill has received criticism from consumer groups for being entirely too weak. The bill does not include a universal “opt-out” option, which means consumers must opt-out of data tracking activities on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, the bill does not include a private right of action, which would grant consumers the right to file suit against a company that illegally collects or in some way mismanages their personal information. Instead, consumers can send complaints to the FTC – a much weaker enforcement mechanism.

Still, the bill places stronger protections on the sensitive areas of personal health, financial and religious information. In these instances, the burden is placed on the data-collecting company, which must secure a consumer’s express permission – through an opt-in provision – to collect their data. For companies working in the first two spaces in particular – health and commerce – consumer assurance that their personal information is private and secure is crucial. In fact, consumer reluctance to share data due to mis-trust of data-collecting companies and apps could pose an enormous barrier to the uptake and growth of emerging mobile services, especially those that converge location-based services with mobile health and mobile commerce/payment applications.

Encouragingly, some industry executives have internalized this message. At the CTIA Wireless 2011 Executive Forum panel “Location – Beyond Check-ins and Directions”, President and CEO of LOC-AID Technologies, Rip Gerber, emphasized that consumers must feel they are in control of their own data. He made the point that consumers need a range of privacy options. Apps that track a consumer’s location or transaction history, for instance, should offer the option to turn on or off the location-specific portion of an app rather than just disabling the entire app. Another example is Nokia’s Location-Aware Service which, unlike other check-in services, does not track a user’s location constantly, but rather relies upon the user checking-in to a location manually.

Privacy concerns will continue to be a sensitive and important issue as we further digitize our lives. Whether through opt-ins, opt-outs, universal no-tracking lists or case-by-case management, consumers must be given the tools to confidently control their personal information – it simply is good for the consumer and good for the industry.