The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the antitrust agency of the United States, would like to establish rules to regulate certain data collection practices. According to the sources of Wall Street Journal, their drafting would have started as early as August 11. Congress is working on legislation around the issue, but its passage before November’s midterm elections is highly uncertain.
The FTC on the initiative…
When she arrived at the head of the FTC, Democrat Lina Khan, known for her criticism of big digital companies, took advantage of the majority of Democratic commissioners to extend the powers of the agency. This could allow the latter to enact rules to protect the privacy of Americans online.
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At the beginning of his mandate, President Joe Biden had precisely asked his antitrust agency to fight against “ unfair data collection and surveillance practices that could harm competition, consumer autonomy and privacy “.
The Wall Street Journal believes that the FTC has three levers to achieve its ends without departing from its powers. The first would be to consider certain unfair or misleading collection practices for consumers. A position also defended by the Republican Commissioner of the FTC, Christine Wilson. She believes that the consumer is unaware of how their data is harvested and monetized, creating a ” market failure “.
The commission’s second option is to present data collection as a means of excluding other companies, which do not have access to it, as unfair competition. The third and final scenario would be to focus on the privacy of children.
It “would suffice” to update the rules based on a 1998 law relating precisely to the protection of young people online. A serious lead: on the occasion of the confinements, Lina Khan had declared that she wanted the FTC to be more attentive to the way in which the platforms could use the additional screen time of the children.
… Congress lagging behind
These FTC measures would be important, but would take years to implement. A federal law, which currently does not exist, would solve the problem. Privacy advocates have long called for legislation to regulate the collection of data by platforms across the country.
The texts on this subject exist, but are still in their infancy and a majority of votes in their favor is far from certain, even before the mid-term elections. Such legislation could also have perverse effects. Some states, such as California, are at the forefront of regulating data collection. State attorneys general are concerned that a more permissive federal law will impose itself on more demanding local texts. The American GDPR is not for tomorrow.
