The FTC is looking into rules about the collection and selling of people’s personal data. If you are of the many people tired of companies collecting and selling your personal data, then there is good news for you. The federal trade commission is now considering the set rules about the practice.
The FTC Is Looking into Rules about the Collection and Selling of People’s Personal Data
On Thursday, the federal trade commission announced that it is looking into the rules surrounding companies that profit off of the collection and selling of the personal data of people. The FTC further went on to call this very practice commercial surveillance and then defines it as “the business of collecting, analyzing, and profiting from information about people.”
“Firms now collect personal data on individuals at a massive scale and in a stunning array of contexts,” Lina M. Khan, chair of FTC wrote in a press release.
Also, the FTC is looking into the new set of rules on lax data security practices that put the personal data of people at risk. In the first quarter of this year alone, data breaches have increased by 14% and this is after a record number of data breaches in 2021 alone.
You should also know that the push for new rules is also getting the support of bipartisan. “As a longtime advocate for comprehensive privacy protections, I wholeheartedly support the FTC’s efforts to explore strong online privacy rules,” Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) in a press release said.
Prominent Senators Take On the Issue
“I hope today’s action by the FTC helps underscore the urgency for the House to bring the American Data Privacy and Protection Act to the floor and for the Senate Commerce Committee to advance it through committee,” Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), which is a co-sponsor of the act in a news release, said.
The federal trade commission announced that it is asking for the input of the public on whether these new sets of rules are warranted or not. People who are willing to share their thoughts on the matter can do so at a virtual public forum which is scheduled to be held on the 8 of September from 2 pm to 7:30 pm ET.
What Lina M. Khan, Chair of FTC Has To Say
Khan back in April pushed for new privacy rules and the limits on what type of data companies can collect. She went on to question whether companies should be allowed to indiscriminately collect consumer data while also keeping majority of consumers in the dark in regards to how their data is being utilized.
“I believe we should approach data privacy and security protections by considering substantive limits rather than just procedural protections, which tend to create process requirements while sidestepping more fundamental questions about whether certain types of data collection and processing should be permitted in the first place,” she also said at the time.
