Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, PRIVACY NEWS: McSweeny rooting for passage of data breach legislation this year, (Apr 1, 2015)

By John Curran, TRDaily

FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny said yesterday that she hopes Congress will approve legislation this year to improve data breach and notification requirements, although she believes that the content of current legislation in that area could be improved. She made the statement in prepared remarks, delivered at an event organized by the Association of National Advertisers in Washington, D.C.

McSweeny said that, in spite of the work that the FTC has been doing to combat online fraud and deceptive practices, “consumer trust is at an all-time low.” She was not surprised by that lack of trust, given the number of high-profile data breaches reported in 2014, which she said some have dubbed “the year of the breach.”

“We do need additional protections for consumers,” given the growing incidence of data breaches and forecasts for rapid growth in connected devices, McSweeny said. She cited estimates that there are 25 billion connected devices operating in the U.S. currently, and that number is expected to jump to 50 billion by 2020.

“I am hopeful that Congress will approve data security and breach notification legislation this year,” she said, while adding that bills being debated in Congress could be strengthened to include protections for geolocation data and to provide better notice of some data breaches.

She noted the FTC’s first-ever settlement reached late last year over deceptive sales claims and phony legal threats by patent assertion entity MPHJ Technology Investments LLC and said the Commission’s focus on PAEs was an example of the agency’s listening to concerns in the marketplace. While not endorsing any particular patent-focused legislation, McSweeny said she hopes that “the conversation on the Hill on patent issues continues.”

The Commissioner indicated she was generally supportive of the FCC’s recent open Internet order, which reclassifies broadband services under Title II of the Communications Act, but said it was too soon to tell whether the order will interfere with FTC’s ability to go after deceptive practices in the broadband service provider market.

Regarding the FCC’s role in promoting security of broadband service provider customer information, she said, “I don’t necessarily believe we have to have only one cop on that beat,” adding that she welcomed FCC efforts in that direction.

McSweeny answered in a similar fashion when asked about overlaps in the FTC’s focus with that of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying that the FTC has “a long history of sharing jurisdiction. … So far we have worked through those differences and expect to continue to do so.”

She said that the FTC’s priorities going forward will include consumer privacy, data security, privacy issues related to unmanned aerial systems, student data privacy, and cross-device marketing.

News: ConsumerProtection Privacy FederalTradeCommissionNews