FTC’s Commercial Surveillance and Data Security Rulemaking

guest · Nov 21, 2022

33 Attorneys General Send Letter to FTC on Commercial Surveillance Rules
By Eduard Kovacs @EduardKovacs - November 21, 2022

Attorneys general in 33 US states are urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to take into consideration consumer risks as it looks into creating rules to crack down on commercial surveillance.
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The FTC announced in August that it wants to take action against commercial online surveillance, in which companies collect and analyze user data in an effort to monetize it.

Companies often track every aspect of a user’s online activities, including their browsing history, the purchases they make, their physical location, and their friend and family networks. This and other data is automatically analyzed and then sold to others to help them boost advertising and sales.
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The FTC is concerned that the companies collecting this data are not protecting it properly against hackers. In addition, in some cases, the consumer may be forced to share data in order to use a service, or they might simply not be aware that the service they are using is collecting much more data than they are asking for when an account is created.
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The AGs have also asked the FTC to mitigate concerns through data minimization, limiting the amount of data collected by firms to only what is required for a specific purpose.

The letter sent to the FTC focuses on biometric, location and medical data, and highlights the “persistent dangers” associated with data brokers, which are often prepared to sell the information they have collected to nearly anyone.

“This scale of aggregation of anonymously gathered information can identify consumers and put consumers at risk of scams, unwanted and persistent advertising, identity theft and lack of consumer trust in the websites they visit,” the AGs warn.
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FTC: Commercial Surveillance and Data Security Rulemaking

Commercial surveillance is the business of collecting, analyzing, and profiting from information about people. Technologies essential to everyday life also enable near constant surveillance of people’s private lives.

The volume of data collected exposes people to identity thieves and hackers. Mass surveillance has heightened the risks and stakes of errors, deception, manipulation, and other abuses. The Federal Trade Commission is asking the public to weigh in on whether new rules are needed to protect people’s privacy and information in the commercial surveillance economy.
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