FTC Releases Commercial Surveillance and Data Security Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is asking the public to weigh in on whether new rules are needed to protect people’s privacy and information in the commercial surveillance economy. Commercial surveillance is the business of collecting, analyzing, and profiting from information about people. Technologies essential to everyday life also enable near-constant surveillance of people’s private lives. The FTC's Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) asks a series of questions about practices related to commercial surveillance and data security. This ANPR has alluded to only a fraction of the potential consumer harms arising from lax data security or commercial surveillance practices, including those concerning physical security, economic injury, psychological harm, reputational injury, and unwanted intrusion. Anyone from the public can submit a comment weighing in on the rulemaking, the general topics, or a specific question. The link to submit comments to the Federal Register will be posted as soon as it is available.