The FTC is extended the deadline to decide on the video game industry’s request about using face-scanning technology to determine user ages, the agency announced Monday. The Entertainment Software Rating Board, Yoti and SuperAwesome filed an application in June seeking FTC approval for the age-estimation technology, which uses facial geometry to determine whether a user is an adult. In September, the agency extended the original October deadline to January and now is extending it to March 29. The agency solicited public comment on the application in July, as required under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone of New Jersey led four Democrats Monday in filing the Do Not Disturb Act to counteract perceived undermining of anti-robocall protections following the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous 2021 ruling in Facebook v. Duguid. In that case, the court backed a narrow definition of an automatic telephone dialing system under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (see 2104010063). Senate Communications Subcommittee leaders focused during an October hearing on DOJ’s perceived reluctance in enforcing existing anti-robocall statutes (see 2310240065).
The FCC Enforcement Bureau should change tactics to avoid the risk of targets making an end run around its processes by taking advantage of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions to drag the agency into litigation, said former FCC General Counsel Tom Johnson in a white paper sponsored by CTIA and published Monday by Wiley, where he's a partner.
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.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines should direct intelligence agencies to limit purchases of data about Americans when collection of the data meets FTC standards, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote in a letter Thursday. Wyden released documents he said confirm that the NSA “buys Americans’ internet records, which can reveal which websites they visit and what apps they use.” He noted the FTC issued a recent order (see 2401090081) holding “that data brokers must obtain Americans’ informed consent before selling their data.” The federal government shouldn’t be “funding and legitimizing a shady industry whose flagrant violations of Americans’ privacy are not just unethical, but illegal,” Wyden wrote. “To that end, I request that you adopt a policy that, going forward, IC elements may only purchase data about Americans that meets the standard for legal data sales established by the FTC.” He urged the DNI to direct agencies to inventory purchased data, determine whether it meets FTC standards, and purge whatever doesn’t. DNI didn’t comment.
The FTC is examining Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft to see if they are unfairly exerting undue control over AI markets, Chair Lina Khan announced Thursday.
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., is considering attaching an amendment to a pending national security supplemental spending bill that would allocate $3.08 billion to fully fund the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, communications officials and lobbyists said in interviews. Telecom-focused lawmakers are still eyeing FY 2024 appropriations bills as vehicles for allocating rip-and-replace money, and some are pushing to keep using a spectrum legislative package to pay for it. President Joe Biden asked Congress to authorize the additional rip-and-replace money in October as part of a domestic funding supplemental separate from the national security request (see 2310250075).
Former FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Director Jessica Rich, ex-Kelley Drye, joins Consumer Product Safety Commission as general counsel, succeeding Austin Schlick, ex-FCC general counsel, who elevates to executive director … Bureau of Industry and Security hires Microsoft’s Elizabeth Cannon as first executive director-Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services … Qualcomm promotes Chief Financial Officer Akash Palkhiwala to expanded role of CFO and chief operating officer ... LG Ad Solutions, connected TV and cross-screen advertising platform, names GumGum’s Angela Barnett head-corporate communications.
Parents aren't the only ones responsible for protecting their children online, and social media companies should do more as their safety obligations evolve with the rise of AI, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said Monday.
Following last week’s oral argument in two Chevron cases before the U.S. Supreme Court (see 2401170074), the future of the doctrine appears in doubt.