Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, PRIVACY NEWS: Single case not best way to resolve fight over iPhone access: McSweeny says , (Mar 10, 2016)
Organizations Mentioned:Apple | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
By Brian Hammond,TR Daily
FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny yesterday said that the fight over whether law enforcement authorities should be able to compel Apple, Inc. to unlock its iPhone devices is “too important” to be resolved through a single case.
Speaking at the New America Foundation’s Cybersecurity for a New America conference, Commissioner McSweeny said she had “watched with interest” as Congress begins to grapple with the issue, including through a bill that would establish a special commission of stakeholders to come up with recommendations.
“That’s not a bad approach,” she said. The key will be to “find the right balance.” However, “any conclusion that we ought to mandate [security] backdoors would be a disaster for consumer security. I feel pretty passionate about that.”
Addressing privacy issues surrounding the rise of the Internet of Things and connected devices, McSweeny said device makers will have to step up their efforts to address data security.
“How do we get companies that were making, for lack of a better word, dumb, unconnected products… to understand what data security requires?” she asked.
Another issue is that consumers will need to consider how long connected devices are supported by the device maker. Consumers may be used to buying a toaster oven and using it for many years, but “will consumers understand that their new toaster oven might only be supported for five years?” she asked. “Should I have to understand that this thing that previously would have lasted a longer period of time might not last that long?”
McSweeny said she was a strong backer of “bounty” programs, offering cash to “white-hat” hackers who find and report security flaws in products. And she lamented a “pretty poorly conceived” provision in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reauthorization last year to outlaw white-hat researchers from engaging in such programs. “I think that’s a mistake,” she said.
News: Privacy FederalTradeCommissionNews