Public Knowledge helped launch a coalition of public interest advocates Tuesday, with the goal of making the internet work “better for everyone.” Other organizing partners in the Movement for a Better Internet are the Creative Commons, the Niskanen Center, the Wikimedia Foundation, the Internet Archive, Derechos Digitales and the Association for Progressive Communications. The internet is “fraught” with “misinformation and manipulation; deceptive privacy practices; and all-powerful, unaccountable gatekeepers,” PK Senior Policy Analyst Lisa Macpherson said. “By joining the movement, we can ensure an internet shaped by our shared public interest values -- an internet that puts people and communities first.”
Academics make up the entire roster of panelists for the FTC’s Nov. 1 PrivacyCon, the agency announced with its final agenda Tuesday. FTC Chair Lina Khan and Chief Technology Officer Stephanie Nguyen will give opening remarks. Academic panels will follow from 9:25 a.m. to 5 p.m. on consumer surveillance, automated decision-making, children’s privacy, devices, augmented reality, dark patterns and adtech.
The U.S. is seeking the extradition of a Ukrainian national who allegedly led an international malware campaign that infected millions of computers globally, DOJ said Tuesday, announcing an indictment for crimes associated with Raccoon Infostealer. According to DOJ, Mark Sokolovsky, 26, leased access to the malware for $200 per month. Customers used Raccoon Infostealer to collect personal and financial information from victims’ devices. Sokolovsky, who's being held in the Netherlands on a U.S. extradition request, faces "20 years in prison for the wire fraud and money laundering offenses, five years for the conspiracy to commit computer fraud charge, and a mandatory consecutive two-year term for the aggravated identity theft offense."
Reports that ByteDance planned to use TikTok to monitor the physical location of specific U.S. citizens provides “more than enough evidence” for federal agencies to take action against the Chinese social media company, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr tweeted Friday. Carr has repeatedly pushed for action on national security issues related to TikTok’s data collection practices (see 2207150064).
FTC Chair Lina Khan declined to recuse herself in the agency’s lawsuit against Meta’s acquisition of Within Unlimited, so the remaining commissioners will vote on whether she can further participate in the case, according to court filings announced Tuesday in 5:22-CV-04325 before the U.S. District Court for Northern California (see 2209260069). The FTC informed the court of its pending vote in a filing dated Oct. 6. Commissioner Noah Phillips formally left the agency last week, creating a 3-1 Democratic majority for Khan.
Social media platforms lack accountability for hosting harmful content because of Communications Decency Act Section 230, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said in a report released Tuesday. The report showed Payton Gendron, the alleged mass shooter who killed 10 black people in Buffalo in May, was radicalized on fringe platforms like 4chan. Platforms largely provided an uneven response to his livestreaming efforts, the report said. James’ office reviewed thousands of pages of documents and social media content to explore how the alleged shooter used platforms to “plan, prepare and publicize his attack,” James said. Gendron was radicalized through “virtually unmoderated websites and platforms that operate outside of the mainstream internet, most notably 4chan,” James said, and livestreaming platforms like Twitch were “weaponized to publicize and encourage copycat” attacks. Section 230 allows “too much legal immunity” for platforms, even “when a platform allows users to post and share unlawful content,” James said.
The FTC is seeking public comment on a proposal to update the Energy Labeling Rule and require manufacturers to provide consumers with repair instructions. It’s “vital” for the agency to use every tool available to “vindicate Americans’ right to repair their own products,” Chair Lina Khan said in a statement, calling it a continuation from the FTC’s July 2021 policy statement on right to repair (see 2107210061). The agency is exploring whether consumer and independent repair shops would benefit from having repair information “more widely available on energy labels,” said Khan. This could have implications for everything from televisions and washing machines to air conditioners and water heaters, she said. The commission voted 5-0 approving publication of an Advance NPRM. Commissioner Christine Wilson advocated for reviewing the labeling rule's “more prescriptive aspects,” such as highly specific requirements for the presentation of the labels.
The FTC will vote Oct. 20 whether to initiate a potential rulemaking to combat fake reviews and endorsements, the agency said Thursday. The commission is considering an advance NPRM that would seek comments on the “prevalence of fake and deceptive reviews and the consumer harms arising from them,” it said. The agency recently solicited comments on potential changes to its ad endorsement guidelines (see 2209270065). The commission is also expected to vote Oct. 20 on an ANPR to start a rulemaking for “junk fees that are charged for goods or services that have little or no added value to the consumer.” This will be the first meeting since Commissioner Noah Phillips' formal resignation.
The FTC extended the deadline for comments on the agency’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking on commercial surveillance and data security until Nov. 21 (see 2208190031 and 2210130079). The commission voted 4-0-1, with Commissioner Christine Wilson abstaining. “Mass surveillance has heightened the risks and stakes of data breaches, deception, manipulation, discrimination, and other abuses,” the agency said Friday.
Price is the top reason residential customers choose an internet service, but performance and reliability are the most influential factors in predicting overall customer satisfaction, said a J.D. Power report Thursday. Some 58% of a customer’s satisfaction with broadband service is based on quality and consistency of the internet connection, said Ian Greenblatt, managing director. “With customers being least satisfied with cost of service, a consistent experience at a reasonable price is table stakes for providers -- each outage or other problem causes a customer to review that price-driven choice for real value,” Greenblatt said. Among providers, Verizon ranked highest in the East region with a score of 758; Midco ranked highest in the North Central region (734), nudging out AT&T (724) and CenturyLink (717); AT&T had the highest customer satisfaction in the South (761) and West (729) over Xfinity at 736 and 709, respectively. The study is based on responses from 22,945 customers November-August.