Competition policies like those contemplated in South Korea unfairly target American tech companies and harm consumers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement Monday opposing Korea’s Online Platform Competition Promotion Act. The chamber asked Korean officials to provide the full text of the platform legislation and ample time to respond. Opponents say the bill is a European-style law that runs counter to international trade norms. Proposals like this “trample on competition that clearly benefits consumers, ignore good regulatory practices fundamental to sound regulatory models, and place governments in a position of violating their trade commitments by arbitrarily targeting foreign firms,” said Charles Freeman, senior vice president-Asia.
Companies must preserve documents needed in government investigations, even when using platforms that automatically delete messages, the FTC and DOJ said Friday, clarifying language in their investigatory requests. Companies are increasingly using “collaboration tools and ephemeral messaging applications, such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Signal,” the agencies said: Companies are legally required to retain communications even if these platforms remove the messages. This applies to “second requests, voluntary access letters, and compulsory legal process, including grand jury subpoenas,” the agencies said. The FTC has “successfully moved for civil spoliation sanctions and may refer cases to criminal prosecutors” when companies fail to do so, the agency said.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court granted the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition's unopposed motion for leave to intervene on the FCC’s behalf in opposing a petition seeking court review of the commission's Oct. 25 declaratory ruling authorizing E-rate funding for Wi-Fi service and equipment on school buses (see 2401200001). U.S. Circuit Judge Leslie Southwick signed the order Wednesday (docket 23-60641). Maurine and Matt Molak are challenging the FCC's ruling because they say it will increase E-rate program “outlays” and raise the federal universal service charge they pay as a line-item on their monthly phone bill. They also contend the ruling gives children and teenagers unsupervised social media access on school buses, and that this runs counter to the mission of David's Legacy Foundation, which advocates ending cyberbullying. The Molaks co-founded the foundation in memory of their son. The coalition argues that the Molaks’ petition, if successful, “would do great harm” to the interests of the coalition and its 300 members by “inhibiting online learning,” it said.
Ring will no longer allow police to request and receive video footage within the Neighbors app, the Amazon service announced Wednesday. Fight for the Future applauded the move. “Shutting down the 'red carpet' surveillance portal they offered to police is unquestionably a victory for the coalition of racial justice and human rights advocates that have been calling to end these partnerships for years,” said Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer. This practice “was always dangerous, and had a documented effect of exacerbating racial profiling.” Ring said it’s “sunsetting” the request for assistance tool within the app. Agencies’ public safety tips will still be shared publicly, it said.
The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI must update Congress on their security review of TikTok, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., and House Intelligence Subcommittee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, wrote in a letter to the agencies that was released Friday. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which collaborates with DHS and the FBI, began a national security review of the Chinese-owned social media company in 2019. It’s unclear what the agencies have done to address their national security concerns about TikTok, particularly the Chinese government’s access to user data, they wrote. Given TikTok’s more than 150 million U.S. users, the FBI and other agencies have “raised alarms about the potential that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could use TikTok to threaten U.S. homeland security, censor dissidents, and spread its malign influence on U.S. soil,” their offices said. TikTok and the agencies didn’t comment.
It’s important for policymakers to “turn off” targeted advertising for children as a default setting, FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan said Thursday during an open meeting. Khan discussed the agency’s effort to update rules under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The advertising issue is a “noteworthy” provision included in the agency’s update, which is open for public comment (see 2312280030), she said. Business models built on monetizing data can create a business incentive for “endlessly vacuuming up people’s data,” said Khan. The COPPA update ensures companies don’t “over-collect information about our kids in the first place” and makes it easier for parents to keep their children’s data out of the advertising technology ecosystem, said Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. Behavioral advertising can also result in inappropriate ads for children, but the FTC's core concern is that companies can create commercial relationships with children and prey on “the fact that they’re kids,” Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said.
The FTC will coordinate with Asia Pacific law enforcement partners on privacy and data security-related investigations, the agency said Wednesday as it signed the Global Cooperation Arrangement for Privacy Enforcement (Global Cape). The agreement supplements the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross-border Privacy Rules (APEC CBPR), which “facilitates cooperation and assistance in privacy and data security investigations among APEC’s Asian Pacific countries,” the FTC said. The new agreement allows coordination with countries outside the immediate region, it said. Nine countries have signed the APEC CBPR: U.S., Mexico, Japan, Canada, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Chinese Taipei and the Philippines.
U.S. critical infrastructure operators should deploy American-built drones that follow secure-by-design principles and understand that Chinese drones carry significant national security risks, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI said Wednesday in new guidance. “Cybersecurity Guidance: Chinese-Manufactured Unmanned Aircraft Systems” seeks to raise awareness about “threats posed by Chinese-manufactured UAS and to provide critical infrastructure and state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) partners with recommended cybersecurity safeguards.” The agencies said Chinese laws provides its government with "expanded legal grounds for accessing and controlling data held by firms in China. The use of Chinese-manufactured UAS in critical infrastructure operations risks exposing sensitive information” to Chinese authorities. David Mussington, CISA executive assistant director-infrastructure security, noted critical infrastructure sectors like communications, energy and chemicals are “increasingly relying on UAS for various missions that ultimately reduce operating costs and improve staff safety.” Mussington cited the threat of “China’s aggressive cyber operations to steal intellectual property and sensitive data from organizations.”
Comments are due March 11 on the FTC’s proposed changes to children's privacy rules, according to a notice for Thursday's Federal Register (see 2312200050).
Data brokers don’t have a “free license” to sell sensitive location data, FTC Chair Lina Khan said Tuesday, announcing the agency’s first ban on selling location data. The agency announced a nonmonetary settlement with Virginia-based X-Mode Social and Outlogic, its successor. Until May, the company lacked policies "to remove sensitive locations from the raw location data it sold,” the FTC said. X-Mode/Outlogic didn’t “implement reasonable or appropriate safeguards against downstream use of the precise location data it sells, putting consumers’ sensitive personal information at risk,” it added. The commission approved a consent order 3-0 with the company. X-Mode now faces fines of up to $50,120 per violation for future infractions. X-Mode must implement a program with continuous review of its data sets and prevent disclosure of sensitive location data. In addition, it must delete all location data it previously collected. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., applauded the agency for “taking tough action to hold this shady location data broker responsible.” He said that in 2020, he “discovered that the company had sold Americans' location data to U.S. military customers through defense contractors.” The FTC action is “encouraging,” but Congress needs to pass legislation allowing regulators to hold data brokers more accountable, Wyden said. An attorney for X-Mode didn’t comment Tuesday.