August 12 morning news, according to reports, a few days ago, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the community open call for comments on how technology companies should protect consumer privacy data, this will be the U.S. federal government to develop a privacy regulatory system for the technology industry to take the first step.
The official name of the document sent out by the FTC is “Advance Notice of Proposed Regime Development”, hoping that the community can provide suggestions and opinions on data collection, algorithmic discrimination issues, and commercial surveillance.
The FTC’s regulatory regime is likely to be in place by the end of this year. In the above document, the agency did not talk about the specific terms of the regulatory regime. However, some of the issues raised by the FTC suggest that the agency is concerned about the various harms caused by the collection of personal privacy data, including those stemming from data collection, data breaches, targeted advertising or algorithmic discrimination.
The FTC is focused on automated decision-making systems used by large technology companies that affect consumers without their being informed in advance.
The document, posted on the FTC’s official website, asks questions such as, “What practices do (tech) companies generally use to monitor consumers?” “How common is algorithmic discrimination based on protected information such as a consumer’s race, gender, and age, currently?”
The FTC also asked whether the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Section 230 of the Communications Regulatory Act would impede the FTC’s enforcement of the protection of personal privacy.
In addition to the request for comments, the FTC will hold a public hearing on September 8 for the public to discuss the content of the draft regulatory regime for personal privacy, on which the FTC encourages the public to express their views.
In response to the request for comments, FTC Chairwoman Lena Kohan said that technology companies are currently collecting privacy data on a large scale in a variety of scenarios, and the FTC’s goal in seeking comments from the community is to understand and record public opinion and perceptions to determine whether the FTC should develop a regulatory regime that addresses commercial surveillance and data security practices, as well as the specific terms of this regulatory regime.
In addition to the public, affected technology companies have the opportunity to exert influence in the development of the FTC’s regulatory regime, although their role is relatively limited. At this time, technology companies such as Google, Apple and Meta have not commented on the above-mentioned regulation of personal privacy protection.
Public opinion calls for the FTC to step in
Previously, many U.S. agencies and individuals, including members of Congress, have called on the FTC to take action against violations of personal privacy. Last year, a group of Democrats in the U.S. Senate wrote a letter to Khan asking the FTC to come up with a new system to protect personal privacy.
In that letter, the senators said there was a consensus that U.S. tech companies were violating their commitment to protect consumer privacy, but that the tech companies were being punished only slightly for those violations.
Three months ago, the U.S. Senate approved personal privacy expert Alvaro Bedoya to serve as an FTC commissioner (out of five). Prior to joining the agency, Bedoya had conducted extensive research on privacy data, algorithmic discrimination and other issues.
The FTC’s five commissioners reportedly voted 3-2 to open the consultation to the community, with two of the Republican commissioners voting against.
Congressional Privacy Legislation Stalls
There has been pressure and calls within the United States for a federal-level standard or law to protect personal privacy. However, in the U.S. Congress, personal privacy legislation has stalled, and some members of Congress have introduced draft or proposed legislation, but have not received majority support.
Recently, the U.S. Data Privacy and Protection Act was voted out of a committee of House members, but the law will face challenges in the Senate. In addition, legislation to regulate algorithms and strengthen government antitrust oversight has also failed to “come to fruition.
In an interview in January, U.S. Sen. Robuchon (D-Minn.) said that years of inaction have led to the current state of personal privacy protection. Many rhetoric, but no concrete laws have been passed.
The FTC’s Challenge
The stagnation of legislation in Congress has led to a number of challenges to the personal privacy regulatory regime that have fallen to the FTC.
The FTC is currently engaged in a lawsuit with social networking giant Meta, asking the court to cancel its purchase of Instagram and Whatsapp that year, and in July, the FTC sued again, asking the court to rescind Meta’s acquisition of a virtual reality software maker — all on antitrust grounds.
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of abortion rights precedent, President Joe Biden called on the FTC to focus on protecting private information that could put some abortion women in danger.
