Online privacy

Governor Wes Moore (D-MD) signed two measures into law that are aimed at better protecting personal data online from Big Tech, including a bill making Maryland the second state to try to create strong limits on information collected on children. The measure, known as the Maryland Kids Code, seeks to limit data that could be collected from children online and protect them from being flooded with harmful material they were not trying to find. Supporters say the new law aimed at protecting children was crafted to withstand court challenges like one that halted a California law.

In December 2023, members of Congress wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel expressing concern that proposed data breach reporting requirements would violate the Congressional Review Act. On May 3, Chairwoman Rosenworcel responded and explained that the new requirements were a needed update, and consistent with the Congressional Review Act.

The House of Representatives passed the Privacy Enhancing Technology Research Act, 354 to 36. Privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) are a broad range of technologies that allow organizations to collect, share, and use data while mitigating the privacy risks that arise from those activities. This legislation, introduced by Rep Haley Stevens (D-MI) and co-led by Rep Tom Kean, Jr.

We write to request that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigate several automobile manufacturers — Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Volkswagen, BMW, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, and Kia — for deceiving their customers by falsely claiming to require a warrant or court order before turning over customer location data to government agencies. Recent investigations by our offices confirmed that only some of the car companies are honoring this commitment.

The Federal Communications Commission lawfully fined U.S. facilities-based wireless carriers nearly $200 million for selling highly intrusive location data about subscribers without their “opt-in” consent. In Section 222 of the Communications Act, Congress comprehensively specified how the carriers bore an affirmative duty of care not to disclose clearly defined Customer Proprietary Information (“CPNI”).  The Act explicitly required the FCC, and no other agency, to protect telecommunications consumers.

The Federal Communications Commission fined the nation’s largest wireless carriers for illegally sharing access to customers’ location information without consent and without taking reasonable measures to protect that information against unauthorized disclosure. Sprint and T-Mobile—which have merged since the investigation began—face fines of more than $12 million and $80 million, respectively.

A bill that would force a sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner, ByteDance—or ban it outright—was passed by the Senate on April 23 and signed into law April 24 by President Joe Biden. Now the process is likely to get even more complicated. Congress passed the measure citing national security concerns because of TikTok’s Chinese ties. Both lawmakers and security experts have said there are risks that the Chinese government could lean on ByteDance for access to sensitive data belonging to its 170 million U.S. users or to spread propaganda.

All Tech Is Human is honored to partner with Thorn, a nonprofit that builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse, on a historic alliance including Amazon, Anthropic, Civitai, Google, Meta, Metaphysic, Microsoft, Mistral AI, OpenAI, and Stability AI, that commits to implement principles to guard against the production and dissemination of AI-generated child sexual abuse material

Federal Communications Commission Jessica Rosenworcel welcomed the start of a new era in broadband price and service transparency. The nationwide launch of the Broadband Consumer Labels means internet service providers are now required to display consumer-friendly labels at the point of sale. The Broadband Consumer Labels resemble the well-known nutrition labels that appear on food products. To ensure the label benefits all consumers, the FCC adopted language and accessibility requirements for the label's display.