Photo created by Bricklay. Via Noun Project.
On November 21, RDR submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in response to its Announcement of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on commercial surveillance and data security.
As we note in the submission, we commend the FTC for its thoughtful consideration of the problems associated with commercial surveillance, including surveillance advertising and data security, and welcome the opportunity to respond to the ANPR. The concerns raised by the FTC have important implications for privacy, freedom of expression, the right to non-discrimination, and the enjoyment of other fundamental rights. In the absence of robust private or public mechanisms for corporate accountability, the harms stemming from commercial surveillance practices are simultaneously less visible than they should be and increasingly dangerous and difficult to address. We conclude our comment with a set of recommendations for the Commission to consider in its future rulemaking proceedings, which you can find below.
In our comment, we highlight the myriad harms of commercial surveillance, while urging the Commission to use its authority to regulate it and ultimately abolish surveillance advertising. While doing so, the Commission must also recognize that the path ahead is fraught with political and legal uncertainty. Not least among these uncertainties is the future of the American Data and Privacy Protection Act (ADPPA). The Commission should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, nor should it be unnecessarily timid in its ambition to protect consumers.
More specifically, our recommendations include:
- That the FTC regulates commercial surveillance as an unfair trade practice–de facto banning surveillance advertising.
- Moving beyond “notice and consent” frameworks, which put the onus on consumers to read and understand complex privacy policies and legal notices.
- Establishing standards for data minimization and purpose limitation through a Section 5 Unfairness Rulemaking.
- Specifying permissible purposes for data collection, use, and sharing. Our recommendation on this item is largely congruent with what’s proposed in the ADPPA, while also urging the FTC to prohibit all surveillance-based targeted advertising.
- Finally, RDR recommends that the Commission obligate companies to disclose their data practices to the FTC and to the public, as well as submitting to regular audits.
Read RDR’s full submission to the FTC on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security.
