Echoing Democratic Predecessor, New FTC Commissioner Wants Tech Bureau
Creating an FTC Technology Bureau would let the agency better evaluate competition and consumer protection cases, said Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter Thursday. Former Commissioner Terrell McSweeny, a fellow Democrat, championed the idea, Slaughter noted at New America's Open Technology Institute.
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Slaughter thinks the bureau "would be a valuable way to ensure we have a deep bench of technologists who can help spot issues and evaluate cases across our mission,” she said. The recently confirmed commissioner, who didn't take questions, encouraged stakeholders to weigh in during upcoming agency sessions on consumer protection and competition (see 1807180051).
Slaughter focused on privacy and security for the IoT. IoT devices should be “reasonably secure,” and consumers should have a correct picture of what data is collected and how it’s stored and used, said Slaughter. Poor design and privacy policies create opportunities to steal data, she said. “It is important that consumers have meaningful, accurate and understandable information about their device security as well as data sharing in order to make informed decisions.” Another growing concern is that smart home devices are being used in domestic disputes, she said.
Slaughter cited a “digital standard,” which industry and regulators use to evaluate how well products are meeting consumer expectations on information security and privacy. “If we build appropriate security and disclosure standards into the infrastructure of this emerging ecosystem, we will not only protect consumers better from the start, we will avoid having to rebuild and redesign the rules of the road from scratch,” she said. The agency has responsibilities as an enforcer and as a facilitator of security innovation through research, she said.
The IoT is far past the “infancy phase” because users have been experimenting with connected devices inside their homes for two decades, so legislation is lagging, said Center for Democracy and Technology Senior Technologist Maurice Turner on a later panel. Consumers Union Director-Privacy and Technology Policy Justin Brookman said that when he testified three years ago, lawmakers were excited about the benefits of the IoT and less worried about vulnerabilities, which have gotten significant attention in the past few months.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is “clearly in the camp” that regulation is bad, but Vice President-Cybersecurity Policy Matthew Eggers is excited about internet policy efforts from NTIA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Eggers said his advice to company leadership is to do what’s possible to secure products and systems, to avoid having to explain to Congress what went wrong during a hearing on a breach. OTI Policy Analyst Andi Wilson Thompson said consumers can drive the security conversation by not buying products that are unsecure, meaning consumer demand dictates industry standards.
Trend Micro said Thursday it found about 53 percent of IT and security professionals cite IoT devices as a security risk and 42 percent said “security is an afterthought” in their IoT strategies. Trend Micro did 1,150 online interviews in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Japan April 1 to May 25 for the survey. About 63 percent said IoT-related cybersecurity threats increased in the past year.