FTC Asks for More Public Comments on Privacy

On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission issued a supplementary information section seeking responses on 11 additional topics in connection with its upcoming Hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century. The deadline to respond to the request for comment is August 20, 2018, the same date as responses to the original request are due.

Section 4 expands on the FTC’s questions around privacy, big data and competition. In particular, they are looking for information about:

(a) Data as a dimension of competition, and/or as an impediment to entry into or expansion within a relevant market;

(b) competition on privacy and data security attributes (between, for example, social media companies or app developers), and the importance of this competition to consumers and users;

(c) whether consumers prefer free/ad-supported products to products offering similar services or capabilities but that are neither free nor ad-supported;

(d) the benefits and costs of privacy laws and regulations, including the effect of such regulations on innovation, product offerings, and other dimensions of competition and consumer protection;

(e) the benefits and costs of varying state, federal and international privacy laws and regulations, including the conflicts associated with those standards; and

(f) competition and consumer protection implications of use and location tracking mechanisms.

The first topic is looking at whether implementing privacy regulations would lock-in the advantages of large companies like Facebook and Google since they were able to start during a period of time in which there was not a lot of privacy regulation and they were able to collect a great deal of data for future use. There has been a lot of discussion in the media about this problem as the federal government is considering national regulation of privacy.

The third question goes squarely to an issue that came to the forefront during the April Congressional hearings with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook is a free service – if it cost money there is a possibility that fewer people would choose to use it. The free but ad-supported website is currently a mainstay of the internet and the FTC is clearly curious whether there this is as a result of public demand or whether another model could work.

The fourth topic is weighing whether privacy protections are necessary to maintain the trust of the public in technology companies given the increasing distrust of today’s data sharing after the Cambridge Analytica scandal or if privacy regulations would have negative consequences including significant new compliance costs and the restriction of data for new products based on artificial intelligence and machine learning that requires a great deal of information.

The fifth area is obviously looking at the question of whether the federal government should preempt state laws regulating privacy. It could also involve how to deal with the problem of the extraterritorial application of laws online. Several members of the Trump Administration have suggested that there needs to be an alternative privacy regime to GDPR, but it could be difficult to alter if companies end up adopting the most restrictive privacy protections.

This will not be the last set of questions out of the FTC. The FTC is also going to invite comment on the topic of each public hearing session as well as have another round of the public comment process at the completion of the entire season of hearings. There are expected to be 15 to 20 public hearings beginning in September 2018 and concluding in January 2019. Given the planned release of a new federal privacy plan from the White House this fall to follow up on the California Consumer Privacy Act, it should be a busy time for privacy discussions.

Improve Data Privacy for GDPR or CCPA with Clarip

The Clarip team and privacy management software are ready to meet your compliance automation challenges. Click here to contact us (return messages within 24 hours) or call 1-888-252-5653 to schedule a demo or speak to a member of the Clarip team.

If compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act is your focus until 2020, ask us about our CCPA software. Handle automation of data subject access requests with our DSAR Portal, or provide the right to opt out of the sale of personal information with the consent software.

Need to improve your GDPR compliance solution? Clarip offers modular GDPR software that can fill in gaps in your privacy program. Choose from the data mapping software for an automated solution to understanding your data collection and sharing, conduct privacy risk assessments with DPIA software, or choose the cookie consent manager for ePrivacy.

Click here to contact us (return messages within 24 hours) or call 1-888-252-5653 to schedule a demo and speak to a member of the Clarip team.

More Blog Posts on the FTC:

Google Plus Privacy Breach: Senator Blumenthal Calls for FTC Investigation
FTC Commissioner Phillips on Balance Between Privacy Law and Competition
House Subcommittee Asks FTC Commissioners About Consumer Privacy
FTC to Hold Hearings on Privacy and Consumer Protection
FTC Chair Testimony Highlights Privacy Enforcement Priorities
FTC Comments on Vendor Due Diligence and Compliance after BLU Settlement
Senate Confirms FTC Commissioners
Oath to Pay $5 Million in Record COPPA Settlement