Look for the FTC to expand its data deidentification and mobile tracking technology research, said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez during a Q&A at an International Association of Privacy Professionals conference Thursday. Ramirez didn’t reveal specific data deidentification research efforts but said the commission wants “to take advantage of” recently appointed Chief Technologist Latanya Sweeney (WID Nov 19 p7), and that those interested should “stay tuned.” Ramirez also revealed the commission would be following up its in-store mobile tracking workshop with a report (WID Feb 20 p6). “We do plan to issue a report, so that will be forthcoming,” she said. As for the FTC’s long-anticipated data-broker study -- in the works since late 2012 -- Ramirez said she hopes it “will be coming out soon."
The Senate unanimously confirmed Gil Kerlikowske as CBP commissioner by voice vote on March 6, in a move that ensures a Senate-confirmed commissioner will lead CBP for the first time in nearly five years. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, along with some industry leaders, praised the confirmation.
Importers should be wary of the use of company data obtained through cybertheft to import illegal goods, said U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in an alert (http://bitly.com/Nwg0b8). “Legitimate importer information, such as Importer Employee Identification Numbers (EIN) and company addresses have been stolen by cyber criminals who then approach U.S. Customs Brokers with the hijacked information,” said CBP. “This information is then used to submit a customs entry under the legitimate importer’s name to import contraband and counterfeit goods.” Such information could also be used to import weapons and ammunition or to create a forged power of attorney. A valid power of attorney is required for imports, it said. “The importer is usually not aware of the theft of its corporate information or the illegitimate importation until after the criminals abscond with the imported goods following the release of the goods from CBP."
Importers and customs brokers should be aware of intrusive software increasingly used to attack and disrupt computer systems, CBP warned in a Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) alert. Those "responsible for the clearance of goods through CBP using importers’ information in the entry process, should also be aware of corporate information theft," the alert said. "Unsuspecting U.S. Customs Brokers may have their computer systems compromised with the introduction of malware."
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) and the consortium commissioned to complete the canal expansion project, Grupo Unidos por el Canal. S.A. (GUPC), brokered a “conceptual” agreement on Feb. 27 for long-term completion of the third set of locks, said ACP and GUPC in separate statements. The $1.6 billion cost overrun dispute has hampered expansion work for weeks. The apparent compromise comes roughly a week after the two sides reached temporary compromise, and GUPC formally resumed construction on the locks project (see 14022111).
Pending legislative amendments to the Lacey Act would hurt the U.S. domestic timber industry and increase the risk of ecological damage by hampering the interagency ability to regulate illicit trafficking of environmental products and species, said government and industry officials and conservation advocates at a Feb. 27 congressional hearing. The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs hearing examined the Aquaculture Risk Reduction Act, HR-3105 (here), Lacey Act Clarifying Amendments Act, HR-3280 (here), The Lacey Act Paperwork Reduction Act, HR-3324 (here), and North Texas Invasive Species Barrier Act, HR-4032 (here).
CBP should be careful in considering the changes to broker permitting and take into account the individual brokers that would be affected, said Kuehne + Nagel Import Compliance Officer Ken Bargteil while speaking at the Feb. 20 Advisory Committee on the Commercial Operations of CBP (COAC) meeting. Bargteil, a longtime member of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) Customs Committee, said he was speaking for himself as an individually licensed broker and on behalf of Darrell Sekin, president of the NCBFAA, during the public comment period. The COAC "Role of the Broker" working group is developing recommendations to CBP for how to go about modernizing the current district permitting regulations for customs brokers.
Smartphones have multiple, unchanging unique identifiers that retailers and analytics firms are constantly collecting in stores and malls to track user location, said panelists at an FTC workshop Wednesday. The near-ubiquity of some types of collection raises the need for industry collection standards and enhanced consumer notification principles, industry representatives said. Consumer advocate Seth Schoen, senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said he had “quite a different paradigm.” Instead of focusing on consent and notice, what should be first addressed is the “underlying problem” of smartphones having “a persistent unique identifier,” which gives people a device “in their pocket shouting where they are to everyone who sets up a laptop to look at them,” he said. The workshop was the first of the FTC’s three short privacy-focused spring workshops (http://1.usa.gov/1jY27hV).
The Food and Drug Administration on Feb. 20 formally announced the beginning of its Secure Supply Chain Pilot for expedited entry of drug products, listing 13 companies that it approved for participation. Under the program, which began earlier this month, drug importers that meet certain requirements receive expedited entry for up to 5 specific drug products per importer. The drugs must be imported from a manufacturer identified on the importer’s initial application to participate in the pilot, and must arrive through a designated port of entry, use the identified customs broker or entry filer, and must be intended for a designated ultimate consignee. The pilot is scheduled to run until February 2016.
Business practices for data security, protecting children and mobile apps were some of the issues updated in the Direct Marketing Association’s 2014 version of its Guidelines for Ethical Business Practices, released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1cmobQa). The trade association said its new guidelines will take effect in July. DMA Senior Vice President-Compliance Services and General Counsel Senny Boone said in a release: “DMA believes self-regulation is the most effective tool to stave off unnecessary regulation and to keep innovative marketing moving forward to provide relevant, customer-centric marketing for consumers and ensure consumers have choices about their marketing.” DMA has opposed data broker legislation (CD Dec 20 p6). Most recently, the group objected to the Data Act from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., which would require that data brokers give consumers access to information collected about them, with the opportunity to correct the data or opt out of collection altogether (http://bit.ly/1fvYzxN).