Facebook, FTC Hearings Top Privacy News Yesterday

Yesterday was a busy day in the privacy world as the House of Commons held a hearing on Facebook and the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance and Data Security held a subcommittee hearing on Oversight of the Federal Trade Commission where all five current members of the Federal Trade Commission were present for the first time since they assumed their roles earlier this year.

The Facebook Hearing

A Facebook representative was questioned in London yesterday on Facebook’s data privacy and disinformation in the inaugural hearing of the “International Grand Committee”.

Wired reported that it was the first time that international parliamentarians had been invited to a hearing at the House of Commons in Britain since 1933. Individuals from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Ireland, Latvia and Singapore attended.

The British lawmakers invited CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify and included a nameplate reserving the chair for him even though Facebook sent its Vice President of Policy instead. Some of the strongest questioning involved internal Facebook emails documenting that Facebook knew that entities linked to Russia were harvesting data. The documents were obtained from the founder of a software company that is engaged in a lawsuit against Facebook. Facebook has indicated that the documents are incomplete and present a misleading picture.

The FTC Hearing

Before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, FTC Chair Joseph Simons in his opening remarks indicated that the FTC’s three requirements for any federal privacy law were:

1. The ability to seek civil penalties.

2. Jurisdiction over nonprofits and common carriers.

3. Real rulemaking authority.

Although not discussed at the hearing, the FTC also recently commented on a request for comment on developing the Trump Administration’s approach to consumer privacy by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) at the U.S. Department of Commerce. One aspect of its comments highlighted the importance of free content on the internet and indicated that an opt-in consent requirement for online advertisements would involve the loss of advertising-funded online content. Instead, the FTC is seeking a more balanced approach to control that gives consumers meaningful control while taking into account customer preferences and the context (risks) into account.

Some of the other topics that were discussed in the hearing:

Facebook: Senator Blumenthal spent a significant amount of time attempting to ask questions of FTC Chair Joseph Simons of the current investigation into Facebook.

Children’s Privacy: Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) questioned the FTC about COPPA and the collection of children’s data. According to the Senator, research found that 1/2 of apps are violating COPPA. He also commented on the need to extend COPPA from 13 years to 16 years old and committed to introducing the Do Not Track Kids Act again in 2019.

Resources: There were mixed comments in response to questioning about whether the Commission needed additional resources to complete its mission, although it was clear that the FTC has the belief that it could put additional money to good use. One statistic that was called out was that the agency has fewer staff than it did during the Reagan Administration despite the growing concerns about privacy.

Rulemaking Authority: The FTC Commissioners agreed that they needed additional authority.

Additionally, in the opening remarks, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said that he was working on a bipartisan privacy bill along with Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) and he hopes to have the bill ready early next year. Senator Moran laster tweeted:

“It has become clear that the U.S. needs a federal consumer data privacy law. My colleagues on @SenateCommerce and I are pursuing such bipartisan privacy legislation.”

Other Blog Posts on Facebook:

Three Steps to Prepare for a Record Privacy Fine Against Facebook
Vendor Risk Management Lessons Coming From Facebook
Vendor Risk Management at Facebook Back in Headlines
Facebook Updates on App Privacy Investigation, Bans myPersonality
Warning from Facebook Stock Drop: Take Privacy Seriously!
SEC Investigates Facebook for Non-Disclosure of Cambridge Analytica Risks
UK Privacy Office to Issue Maximum Fine for Facebook Over Cambridge Analytica
Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Further Explores Facebook Data Privacy
Facebook Answers Senate Questions on Privacy
Privacy Bills in Congress Get Boost From Facebook’s Latest Data Scandal
Germany Demands More From Facebook on GDPR
Overview of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica Data Privacy Scandal

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