Facebook's plan to integrate messaging services WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger raises privacy concerns, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said Friday. “We need more than mere assurances from the company that this move will not come at the expense of users’ data privacy and security,” Markey responded to reports. Emailed a Facebook spokesperson: "We're working on making more of our messaging products end-to-end encrypted and considering ways to make it easier to reach friends and family across networks ... There is a lot of discussion and debate as we begin the long process of figuring out all the details of how this will work.” The FTC should fine Facebook more than $2 billion for violations in the Cambridge Analytica breach, groups wrote Chairman Joe Simons Thursday. Electronic Privacy Information Center, Color of Change, Government Accountability Project and Open Market Institute alleged FTC Act violations. Such infractions can result in a $41,000 fine per offense, the groups wrote, and Facebook said as many as 70 million Americans were affected. “Even generously assuming that each affected person was subject to only one violation of the order, a thousand dollar fine per violation would necessitate a $70 billion fine. Our point is not to argue for a fine of this scale, but to underscore the authority the FTC possesses to impose consequential fines,” they wrote. The agency should also require Facebook to “unwind” its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, the groups said, citing failures to protect WhatsApp user data. The commission didn’t comment. Facebook declined comment on the investigation.
Despite doomsday scenarios about artificial intelligence, useful data doesn’t exist to determine if the technology would harm U.S. jobs, GAO Chief Scientist Tim Persons told us Friday. “We’re worried about it taking over the world and still can’t answer some basic questions about it,” Persons said after speaking at a Software & Information Industry Association event.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., met Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and former FTC members Wednesday about online privacy, the lawmakers told us Thursday. “My goal is to listen and see what we can do to make sure companies have skin in the game,” Scott told us. The ex-FTC officials talked about preventing future privacy breaches, he said.
Expect Senate and House Commerce Committee hearings on wireless carrier location tracking practices that stirred national security concerns, lawmakers told us. Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va., wants briefings from carriers on recent reports companies sold customer location tracking data allegedly accessed by bounty hunters (see 1901110042). “I want to hear personally not only from folks on the communications side but also continue hearing if there are any national security implications,” Warner told us.
Copyright-focused lawmakers are looking to build on the Music Modernization Act’s 2018 success with new projects this term, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told us. Jeffries said he’s in discussions with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and ranking member Doug Collins, R-Ga., all original MMA co-sponsors.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) opposes any effort to pre-empt California privacy laws, an aide emailed Thursday when asked about a new bill from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. (see 1901160047). “We’re more than happy to work with the federal government on strengthening privacy law for Americans nationwide but stampeding on states’ rights is not the answer.” Public Knowledge called Rubio’s bill a step backward because of state pre-emption, “effectively walking back the few privacy safeguards consumers have.” The 1974 Privacy Act, which Rubio wants to model a new privacy law after, “is fundamentally a transparency and data accuracy law, designed well before the popularization of the internet and cloud computing,” said PK Global Policy Director Gus Rossi.
The U.S. needs federal privacy legislation, said National Economic Council Special Assistant to the President Gail Slater Wednesday. “We can either define what it is we want at the federal level or have it be defined” by states, she told a Technology Policy Institute event. Federal privacy movement begins with Congress, and the administration is ready to “work constructively,” she said. NTIA’s privacy effort (see 1811130058) is on hold because of the partial government shutdown, she noted.
It’s unclear why DOJ sued to block AT&T’s buy of Time Warner, Attorney General nominee William Barr told Congress Tuesday. He had concerns the Antitrust Division wasn't engaging with some TW arguments. In Tuesday's Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Barr again committed to recusing himself from lawsuit proceedings (see 1901110028) because he was on TW's board during the deal.
Though critical cyber offices at the Department of Homeland Security are understaffed because of the partial federal government shutdown, DHS can manage its duties for now, former department officials told us. The bigger issue is that a dysfunctional government makes the public sector less attractive to cyber professionals, who already have more incentive to work in the private sector, they said.
Between $50 and $100 is a reasonable price when faced with a legitimate claim for using a copyright-protected image, IP lawyer-experts agreed Friday at an FCBA event. Not all claims should be considered legitimate, said Fletcher Heald's Kevin Goldberg, NPR Senior Associate General Counsel Ashley Messenger and Ballard Spahr's Adrianna Rodriguez on “copyright trolls.” With a legitimate claim, a settlement is infringer's first thought, Goldberg said, and the object is to come to conclusion as quickly and painlessly as possible. Speakers stressed the importance of rigorous record-keeping to ensure online publishers know when they’re using content legally. Rodriguez suggested something as simple as an Excel spreadsheet with rights information. Messenger said NPR handles about one claim per month, and it’s usually the result of a good-faith editorial-staff mistake. The $100 range for a photo is reasonable, she said. Goldberg agreed.