FTC Urged to Clamp Down on Businesses' Voracious Appetite for Data

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/22/ftc_minimize_data_collection/

Attorneys General from 33 US states are urging the Federal Trade Commission to take a practical step toward reining in commercial surveillance of consumers and minimize the data companies are authorized to collect.

The letter [PDF] comes in response to the FTC's August announcement that it was seeking public comments on whether or not it should implement federal regulations around unfair or deceptive data collection, storage, analysis, and other practices.

"Our goal today is to begin building a robust public record to inform whether the FTC should issue rules to address commercial surveillance and data security practices and what those rules should potentially look like," FTC chair Lina Khan said in August.

The letter makes the ultimate argument for minimizing data collection, but also suggests how different types of data should be handled. Location, biometric, and medical data are all cited as concerns, and the AGs urge the FTC to develop rules that promote "fairness, transparency and accountability to consumers." Luckily, there are some state laws that already do much of what the AGs want, making it easy to point to examples.

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