Online privacy

Apparently, the Federal Trade Commission and Facebook are negotiating over a multi-billion dollar fine that would settle the agency’s investigation into the social media giant’s privacy practices. The fine would be the largest the agency has ever imposed on a technology company, but the two sides have not yet agreed on an exact amount. Facebook has expressed initial concern with the FTC’s demands. If talks break down, the FTC could take the matter to court in what would likely be a bruising legal fight.

The Federal Trade Commission is supposed to be the US government’s top Internet privacy cop. But a new Government Accountability Office report report raises questions about whether the agency has the resources and authority it needs to protect consumers. In the past decade, the FTC has filed just 101 enforcement actions regarding Internet privacy. While nearly all of the actions resulted in settlements that required companies to take action, in most cases the FTC didn’t have the authority to issue fines.

In his first state of the state address, Gov Gavin Newsom (D-CA) proposed "a new data dividend" that could allow residents to get paid for providing access to their data. "California's consumers should also be able to share in the wealth that is created from their data," Gov Newsom said. The data dividend proposal follows the CA state legislature's passage in 2018 of a landmark data privacy bill, granting consumers specific rights related to their personal digital information that's collected, shared or maintained by businesses.

44 public interest, civil rights, racial justice, and consumer groups wrote a letter urging Congress to prioritize civil rights concerns when developing consumer privacy legislation. The letter reads:

The United States does not have a comprehensive Internet privacy law governing the collection, use, and sale or other disclosure of consumers' personal information. The US Govermment Accountability Office was asked to review federal oversight of Internet privacy. This report addresses, among other objectives: (1) how Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission have overseen consumers' Internet privacy and (2) selected stakeholders' views on the strengths and limitations of how Internet privacy currently is overseen and how, if it all, this approach could be enhanced.

A Q&A with House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI). 

Privacy laws should treat companies at the internet edge the same as the internet service providers that are largely prevented from accessing these vast swaths of personal data. The task for Congress is to create a straightforward set of privacy rights and company obligations that applies across the internet continuum, enhancing consumer understanding and confidence.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) joined the 2020 Democratic race, separating herself from the pack by talking up her efforts to take on big tech. “We need to put some digital rules into law when it comes to people’s privacy. For too long the big tech companies have been telling you ‘Don’t worry! We’ve got your back!’ while your identities are being stolen and your data is mined,” she said during her launch. “Our laws need to be as sophisticated as the people who are breaking them.” Sen.

A landmark law adopted in California in 2018 to rein in the data-collection practices of Facebook, Google and other tech giants has touched off a lobbying blitz that could water it down, potentially undermining new protections that might apply to Internet users across the country. The fight between regulation-wary businesses and privacy watchdogs centers on CA's first-in-the-nation online privacy rules, known as the California Consumer Privacy Act.