EPIC has filed formal comments with the Federal Trade Commission regarding a proposed consent order with Craig Brittain, a ”revenge porn” website operator. Revenge porn refers to the online distribution of sexual images without the consent of the image subject. Under the proposed order, Brittain "will have to destroy the intimate images and personal contact information he collected while operating the site.” EPIC supported the consent order, but urged the Commission to "further investigate the growing trend of companies recontextualizing images, for profit, without the knowledge or consent of the image subject.” EPIC also explained the correlation between “revenge porn” and other image privacy issues, such as facial recognition and image-based advertising.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments this week in Los Angeles v. Patel, concerning the warrantless inspection of hotel records by the police. Hotel operators are challenging a city ordinance that requires the collection for police inspection of names, drivers licenses, vehicle information, payment information, and length of stay for every hotel guest. EPIC's brief, joined with thirty-six technical experts and legal scholars, argued that “individuals have a constitutional right to gather at hotels for political and religious purposes without being subject to police inspection.” EPIC traced the history of US hotels as meetings places for organizations and cited the landmark Supreme Court case NAACP v. Alabama.
The White House has released a consumer privacy proposal, prepared by the Commerce Department. The bill falls far short of the recommendations for a “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” set out by President Obama in 2012 and broadly supported by consumer organizations. The draft proposal lacks meaningful protections for consumers, would preempt stronger state laws, and create unnecessary regulatory burdens for businesses. EPIC has long recommended enactment of consumer privacy legislation based on “Fair Information Practices,” the basic framework for modern privacy law.
