The FTC’s authority will be challenged if it issues a privacy rulemaking, former agency and industry officials said Wednesday, a day before the FTC is set to host a public forum on its rulemaking effort (see 2208110068).
The House Commerce Committee’s bipartisan privacy legislation isn’t strong enough to replace privacy laws like those in California, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement Thursday. Some 50 public interest groups demanded she hold a vote on the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (see 2208250040).
The California State Senate passed potential social media regulations Monday that sponsors say will help protect children and combat hate speech. Tech groups and open-internet advocates said the regulations are heavy-handed, unconstitutional and will harm innovation.
The FTC sued an Idaho data-marketing company Monday for allegedly buying and selling “geolocation data from hundreds of millions of mobile devices” that can be used to track individuals to and from “sensitive locations” like reproductive health clinics.
The FTC’s various rulemaking efforts are designed to put “market participants on notice,” and the commission is committed to activating all legal authorities necessary for enforcement, Chair Lina Khan said in a statement with Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya in support of the agency’s five-year strategic plan, issued Friday.
Sharing data to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods online should be a voluntary practice so companies can protect trade secrets, said Patent and Trademark Office Attorney-Adviser Jennifer Blank Thursday. Industry officials warned against stringent regulation that could give e-Commerce giants like Amazon an unfair advantage.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) took enforcement action Wednesday against cosmetics store Sephora under the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), as part of a sweep of online retailers. He made the announcement the same day the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) held the first of two public hearings this week on draft regulations for updating the state’s privacy law.
Tennessee Senate Republicans defended the rights of songwriters and musicians last week as the Supreme Court considers a case with implications for derivative works in every medium from photography and film to music and art (docket 21-869).
Tech and antitrust staffers on the Senate Commerce and Senate Judiciary Committees top the list of potential successors to FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips, former officials and industry representatives told us.
The “overwhelming majority” of copyright holders have a positive outlook about the Copyright Office-designated entity paying out digital streaming royalties, Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) CEO Kris Ahrend said in an interview last week. Critics say the MLC relies on faulty data that’s contributing to the accumulation of nearly half a billion dollars in unclaimed and unmatched royalties for songwriters and publishers.