Worldwide consumer spending on smart home devices, systems and services, up 16 percent to $84 billion last year, is forecast to reach nearly $96 billion in 2018 and $155 billion by 2023, said a Wednesday Strategy Analytics report. North America will have 41 percent of total spending, $40 billion, followed by the Asia-Pacific region at $26 billion and Western Europe at $17 billion, said SA. “Consumer awareness is rising, prices are coming down, and the technology is becoming more intuitive," said analyst Bill Ablondi, also citing a "high degree of fragmentation" in a competitive market with no clear winners.
Replicating the EU’s general data protection regulation in the U.S. would not be an efficient way to protect American privacy, but Congress should “critically study” the GDPR as it outlines useful ideas for comprehensive privacy legislation, said Public Knowledge Global Policy Director Gus Rossi Friday. “A comprehensive American privacy bill should also encourage companies to rethink their data collection and processing practices to guarantee security of user information, require meaningful notice and consent for personal data sharing, list user rights, and designate at least one independent enforcement agency,” Rossi said.
The Federal Election Commission should adopt “the stronger of two proposals” being considered and require online political ads to include paid-for-by disclaimers, Common Cause said Friday. “There is too much at stake for the FEC to continue turning a blind eye to this huge vulnerability of our campaign finance regulations,” said Common Cause Vice President-Policy and Litigation Paul Ryan. The organization supported the Honest Ads Act (S-1989), which has been a catalyst for online political ad reform, from Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Mark Warner, D-Va., and John McCain, R-Ariz. (see 1805240052).
Antitrust enforcers might need to closely monitor whether “competition is suffering or competitors are losing out as a result of misdeeds by an incumbent,” Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim said Friday, discussing online markets in Milan. He emphasized that antitrust law should be guided by the “consumer welfare standard,” ensuring that free market competition benefits the consumer. Enforcers also should recognize that in innovative markets, “an incumbent’s monopoly may be fragile, and prone to being toppled by new entrants offering something better and more exciting,” he said. Cowen analyst Paul Gallant noted after an earlier speech by Delrahim in Rome that the DOJ antitrust chief has been “publicly establishing a framework for” internet companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon.
The FTC finalized a settlement with PayPal over allegations Venmo customers weren't adequately informed about balance transfer procedures, preventing them from being able to pay bills (see 1802270048), the FTC said Thursday. The settlement dictates that Venmo “is prohibited from misrepresenting any material restrictions on the use of its service, the extent of control provided by any privacy settings, and the extent to which Venmo implements or adheres to a particular level of security.”
Dominant online platforms should provide users due process, or “procedural protections that ensure fairness,” when platforms take potentially detrimental action toward users, Public Knowledge said Thursday. Platforms should offer clear explanations about proposed actions, options for users to challenge those actions and independent boards to resolve such matters, PK Senior Counsel John Bergmayer said.
Increased political advertising transparency will lead to more accountability and responsibility, said Facebook Director-Product Management Rob Leathern Thursday, launching the platform’s expanded ad disclosure requirements (see 1805080054). American Facebook users can now see who’s running a political ad, how much money was spent and which users interacted with and viewed the ad. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., called it “a big step in the right direction” but urged passage of his Honest Ads Act (S-1989) to avoid patchwork political disclosure across platforms.
U.S. lawmakers should note EU general data protection regulation flaws and avoid replicating the framework in any new American privacy legislation, Competitive Enterprise Institute Regulatory Counsel Ryan Radia and Research Associate Ryan Khurana said Wednesday. The GDPR threatens innovation, reduces competition and stifles job creation, they argued. Meanwhile, at least 28 groups wrote a letter to U.S. tech and industry leaders -- including Facebook, Google, Amazon, Nestle, Walmart and JPMorgan Chase -- urging American companies to adopt GDPR requirements across their platforms. Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Watchdog, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Media Alliance and Public Citizen were among signers. “We envision a digital economy that safeguards individual privacy, advances fairness and provides equal opportunity for all,” they wrote. “The unfettered collection and use of personal data threatens this future.”
Of 24 agencies participating in the Office of Management and Budget's Data Center optimization initiative, 18 are on target to meet goals of closing data centers by the September deadline, GAO reported Wednesday. That would mean closure of 7,221 of the 12,062 centers identified in August. Four agencies don’t plan to meet closure goals, and two are submitting revised goals, GAO said. The program is intended to create more efficient federal infrastructure. Another report found that as of May, agencies completed about 61 percent of some 800 IT management-related recommendations from GAO between 2010 and 2015. About 66 percent of 2,700 security-related recommendations were completed as of May.
The FTC should investigate “dangerously misleading and deceptive advertising and marketing practices and representations made by” Tesla, regarding its driverless technology, said the Center for Auto Safety and Consumer Watchdog Wednesday. At least two are dead and one injured as a result of the automaker “misleading consumers into believing its vehicle's Autopilot feature is safer and more capable than it is in practice,” they said. Tesla and FTC didn’t comment.