Cat Zakrzewski
Critics say FTC's fine against app now known as TikTok doesn't go far enough
Some Federal Trade Commission officials are calling the agency's $5.7 million fine against Musical.ly (now known as TikTok) for children’s privacy violations a “big win.” But critics say it highlights how Washington regulators aren’t doing enough to keep kids safe online. “While this fine may be a historic high for a [Children's Online Privcacy Protection Act (COPPA)] violation, it is not high enough for the harm that is done to children and to deter violations of the law in the future by other companies,” Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) said.
Is the FTC powerful enough to be an effective privacy cop? New report raises questions
The Federal Trade Commission is supposed to be the US government’s top Internet privacy cop. But a new Government Accountability Office report report raises questions about whether the agency has the resources and authority it needs to protect consumers. In the past decade, the FTC has filed just 101 enforcement actions regarding Internet privacy. While nearly all of the actions resulted in settlements that required companies to take action, in most cases the FTC didn’t have the authority to issue fines.
Facebook is having trouble keeping its fact-checking partners
Snopes, one of Facebook's high-profile fact-checking partners, and the Associated Press are not renewing its contract with the social network -- dealing a blow to a program Facebook executives have said is a key line of defense in their fight against disinformation. It was no longer practical for Snopes to participate in the partnership, said Snopes Vice President of Operations Vinny Green, because having such a high-profile deal with one company prevented Snopes from doing fact-checking work around the rest of the Internet.
Congressional Black Caucus Statement on Russian Attempts to Suppress African American Turnout in 2016 Election
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) – led by Chairman L. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), and Congressional Black Caucus Diversity Task Force Co-Chairs, Reps Barbara Lee (D-CA) and GK Butterfield (D-NC) – issued the following joint statement in response to a new report prepared for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which reveals Russia targeted African American voters in attempts to suppress the vote in the 2016 election:
More than 200 companies are calling for a national privacy law. Here's an inside look at their proposal.
A broad coalition of more than 200 retailers, banks and technology companies is releasing new recommendations for national privacy legislation in a clear push to get out in front of lawmakers promising to rein in their data collection practices in the next Congress. The Business Roundtable’s consumer privacy legislation framework calls on the United States to adopt a national privacy law that calls on companies to give consumers more control of their data and form a national standard for breach notification. Recommendations to lawmakers include:
Amazon is now at the center of a debate over public safety versus privacy
A New Hampshire judge’s attempt to compel Amazon to share recordings from an Echo device at the scene of an alleged double murder is putting a fine point on law enforcement’s growing demand for data from Internet of Things devices. Prosecutors are seeking two days of recordings from the smart speaker in a Farmington (NH) home where two women were found dead in Jan 2017.
There is more phony political news on social media now than in 2016, report says
There’s even more phony or misleading political news circulating on social media than there was in 2016, according to a new University of Oxford report that casts doubt on tech companies’ attempts to crack down on disinformation ahead of the midterms. The report also found that social media users were more apt to share “junk news” than what researchers considered “professional content,” which includes news from established media outlets and information from the government, academics or political candidates.
President Trump's refusal to give up his iPhone sets dangerous precedent
President Donald Trump’s reported refusal to give up his personal iPhone demonstrates the complications of keeping government officials secure at a time when they are increasingly tied to their phones by the time they take office.
![](https://www.benton.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/CHP2KAGBTII6RFCR5B4PS27BTM.jpg?itok=1iLF737p)
Tech executives voice support for national privacy law during hearing
Executives from major technology companies including Apple and Google expressed broad support for a national consumer privacy law in a hearing Sept 26, but offered few concrete specifics for how such a law might be best crafted. Lawmakers are no longer questioning whether technology companies should be regulated -- the conversation on Capitol Hill has shifted to how they can design a consumer privacy law that would span a broad swath of US tech and telecommunications companies with divergent data-collection practices.
Google draws conservatives' ire after a leaked 2016 video on Breitbart shows company executives consoling employees after Trump victory
A leaked video of Google executives trying to console employees who were upset after the election of President Trump has infuriated conservatives, who say the remarks illustrate the search giant's political bias and should prompt regulators to take a close look at the company.