Press Release

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA), Tom Udall (D-NM), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called on the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into new evidence of manipulative marketing practices in apps directed at children. A new study recently published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics reveals numerous instances of children’s games using advertising techniques that appear to constitute unfair and deceptive practices under Section V of the FTC Act.

34 civil rights, consumer, and privacy organizations join in releasing public interest principles for privacy legislation, because the public needs and deserves strong and comprehensive federal legislation to protect their privacy and afford meaningful redress.

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on Thursday, November 15, 2018:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the agency will hold a Forum on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning on Nov 30. The forum will convene experts in the AI and machine learning fields to discuss the future of these technologies and their implications for the communications marketplace. The event will also include demonstrations to enable the public to see these emerging technologies in action.

The Federal Communications Commission sent letters to voice providers, calling on them to assist industry efforts to trace scam robocalls that originate on or pass through their networks. These letters, written by FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Rosemary Harold and Chief Technology Officer Eric Burger, were sent to voice providers that are not participating in these “traceback” efforts, including those the FCC has encouraged to do more to guard against illegal traffic.

The web was designed to bring people together and make knowledge freely available. Everyone has a role to play to ensure the web serves humanity. By committing to the following principles, governments, companies and citizens around the world can help protect the open web as a public good and a basic right for everyone.

Governments Will

Ensure everyone can connect to the internet so that anyone, no matter who they are or where they live, can participate actively online.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai demanded that the phone industry adopt a robust call authentication system to combat illegal caller ID spoofing and launch that system no later than 2019. Such a system is critical to protecting Americans from scam robocalls. A robust call authentication framework would erode the ability of callers to illegally spoof their Caller ID, which scam artists use to trick Americans into answering their phones when they shouldn’t.

Sens Mark Warner (D-VA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), authors of the Honest Ads Act, urged Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to address significant apparent loopholes in Facebook’s ads transparency tool. While Facebook committed to implementing transparency measures similar to those that the Honest Ads Act would require, they are currently failing to carry out the basic disclosure and disclaimer provisions of the legislation. The major gaps existing in Facebook’s transparency tool could allow adversaries to exploit the platform with continued disinformation efforts. 

TechFreedom published a comprehensive analysis of why state laws and executive orders attempting to replicate, or expand upon, the Federal Communications Commission’s 2015 network neutrality rules will likely fail in court. Five key findings:

Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) released a discussion draft of sweeping new legislation, Consumer Data Protection Act, that would empower consumers to control their personal information, create radical transparency into how corporations use and share their data, and impose harsh fines and prison terms for executives at corporations that misuse Americans’ data.