The FTC today announced a minor settlement with a company called SecurTest over its claims concerning the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield program. The Commission also sent letters to 13 small companies for falsely claiming participation in various privacy programs. The FTC issued no fines and took no further action. The proposed consent agreement is subject to public comment after publication in the Federal Register. The announcement comes more than a year after the Commission said it would reopen the investigation of Facebook, following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Earlier this year, an EPIC Freedom of Information Act request uncovered more than 26,000 complaints against Facebook pending at the Commission. EPIC brought the original complaint to the FTC in 2009 that led to the 2011 consent order. EPIC has repeatedly urged the FTC to #EnforceTheOrder against Facebook.
EPIC President Marc Rotenberg spoke this week with the Mueller Book Club, a national network committed to reading the Mueller Report, "cover to cover." Marc described EPIC's lawsuit to obtain the public release of the complete Mueller Report, and also EPIC's publication of the EPIC v. DOJ version of the Mueller Report, complete with the FOIA redactions and additional materials, available both in print and Kindle formats. Other speakers for the Mueller Book Club have included Eva Patterson, Gloria Steinem, Rep. Jerry Nadler, Ryan Goodman, and Neal Katyal.
Earlier this week, the House Homeland Security Committee held a closed-door roundtable briefing on the use of facial recognition technology by the Department of Homeland Security. The Committee met with privacy and civil liberties advocates, including EPIC Senior Counsel, Jeramie Scott. Mr. Scott highlighted EPIC's Freedom of Information Act work related to the use of face recognition at airports. Documents obtained by EPIC, and featured at Buzzfeed, revealed significant flaws in the technology. EPIC highlighted these problems in comments to the agency and an op-ed. Speaking to Members of Congress, Mr. Scott recommended that the facial recognition program to be suspended, and pointed to the recent breach of photos and other sensitive information collected by the agency.
