The California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act “could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation” in the U.S., reported Vizio’s initial public stock offering registration Monday. "CCPA has prompted a number of proposals for federal and state privacy legislation that, if passed, could increase our potential liability, add layers of complexity to compliance in the U.S. market, increase our compliance costs and adversely affect our business.” Vizio has “historically maintained,” and consumers have come to expect, “extensive backward compatibility for our older products and the software that supports them, allowing older products to continue to benefit from new software updates,” said the IPO. “In the near term, this backward compatibility will no longer be practical or cost-effective, and we may decrease or discontinue service for our older products.” 2020 profit soared 344% to $102.5 million on an 11% revenue gain to $2.04 billion. Vizio shipped 7.1 million smart TVs last year, up 20%. The company pulled an earlier IPO when it signed a 2016 deal to be bought by LeEco for $2 billion. The agreement later fell apart.
Investigate Prodigy Education for violations of FTC Act Section 5, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., wrote the FTC Friday. They alleged Prodigy is “misleadingly marketing its product as free, manipulating children and families into making purchases, and publishing unsupported claims about its product's educational benefits.” The FTC confirmed it received the letter. The company didn’t comment.
Gov. Ralph Northam (D) should scrap Virginia’s privacy bill that passed the legislature last week (see 2102190041), some said Thursday. The Virginia Citizens Consumer Council (VCCC), Consumer Federation of America, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group sent Northam a letter urging him to veto the legislation or send it back to the legislature for reconsideration next January. “Virginia has taken a business-first perspective that codifies business-designed obstacles to consumers having meaningful control of their personal information,” said VCCC President Irene Leech. Consumer Reports urged Northam to sign the bill but said legislators should work next session to strengthen it. “This bill has some important privacy provisions, but consumers need more practical options,” said CR Policy Analyst Maureen Mahoney. Northam's office didn’t comment.
Vizio Ads unveiled “universal frequency control” for brands to limit how often a Vizio smart TV “is exposed to specific ad creative,” said the vendor Friday. UFC uses data from Inscape, Vizio’s automated content recognition data business. Vizio settled with the FTC in 2017 over allegedly using Inscape to spy on consumers' viewing habits (see 1702060042).
The Virginia House passed the Senate version of a state privacy law Thursday, while the Senate delayed a vote on the House version until Friday. The House voted 89-9 Thursday for SB-1392; the Senate wanted to reconsider arguments on HB-2307. The measure would let consumers access, correct, delete and obtain copies of personal data, and opt out of targeted advertising. The state attorney general would enforce the bill after giving 30 days to cure violations. The bill doesn’t include a private right of action. Legislators amended the bill to add a work group to review the law and implementation and report to the legislature by Nov. 1, before the law takes effect Jan. 1, 2023 (see 2102160040). Gov. Ralph Northam (D) is expected to sign. His office didn’t comment.
CTA convened five dozen tech brands, startups and healthcare organizations to develop an ANSI-accredited “trustworthiness” standard for using artificial intelligence for connected health, said the association Wednesday. “AI is providing solutions,” from diagnosing diseases to enabling “advanced remote care options,” said CTA President Gary Shapiro. “It’s critical patients and health care professionals trust how these tools are developed and their intended uses.” The standard, ANSI/CTA-2090, “identifies the core requirements and baseline for AI solutions in health care to be deemed as trustworthy,” said CTA. It also explores the impact of AI healthcare trustworthiness “through the lens of the end user,” it said.
The Washington state Senate's privacy bill cleared the Ways and Means Committee 22-1 Monday, sending SB-5062 to the Rules Committee. The House has a rival bill (see 2101290053). In Virginia, the House Communications Committee voted 18-3 Monday for a similar comprehensive privacy bill (SB-1392). The panel adopted changes to the Senate-passed bill, including to add a work group to review the law and implementation issues and report back to the legislature by Nov. 1, before the law takes effect Jan. 1, 2023. The Senate bill is next expected to get a floor vote. The Senate General Laws and Technology Committee voted 13-0 Tuesday for the House-passed version (HB-2307) with the same amendment. The Senate panel sent it to the Finance and Appropriations Committee.
Contractors working for federal, state or local governments must obtain consent under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act before making robocalls, effective Friday, says that day's Federal Register (see 2012140056).
The FCC has taken several actions in recent years to curb Illegal robocalls, with a multipronged approach to stop bad actors, lawyers told Incompas Tuesday. They said providers should adopt a mitigation program that best suits their network and is reasonably expected to reduce robocalls. “It’s all about flexibility,” and any bump in the road needs to be addressed quickly, said Gunnar Halley, Microsoft assistant general counsel. The FCC should consider taking a moment to pause and see how its efforts are panning out, said Sheba Chacko, BT Americas chief regulatory counsel.
To say the Supreme Court'sSalinas decision contains a presumption favoring judicial review of administrative action "is inapt," respondent FCC said in a letter Monday (in Pacer, docket 20-1075) to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The issue before the 2nd Circuit in an appeal of the agency's scrapping its junk fax rule retroactively isn't whether the FCC order is reviewable but whether the court should treat a D.C. Circuit decision finding the rule invalid as conclusive, the commission said. Its letter was in response to one from petitioner Bais Yaakov of Spring Valley, New York, arguing SCOTUS' Salinas decision bolsters the appeal (see 2102050006).