FTC Privacy Goals Could Test Limits Of Agency’s Authority

TechFreedom President Berin Szoka was recently cited in BNA on the final  FTC Privacy Report .

As he explains, the commission has argued that the range of recognized privacy-related harms should be “more expansive than economic or physical harm or unwarranted intrusions and that any privacy framework should recognize additional harms that might arise from unanticipated uses of data.”

However, Szoka worries that these actions are not within the scope of “the unfairness doctrine they came up with in 1980,” as he told BNA. “That’s still a good standard…The FTC has staked out a bolder position on the scope of harm covered by unfairness than many realize.”

In  recent testimony  before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, Szoka urged Congress to consider ordering the FTC to prepare another policy statement if the agency’s enforcement activity goes too far.