Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has introduced S. 3127, the Bot Disclosure and Accountability Act of 2018. The bill directs the FTC to create a rule to require social media companies to disclose any social media bots on their platform. The bill also prohibits candidates and political parties from using bots. "This bill is designed to help respond to Russia's efforts to interfere in U.S. elections through the use of social media bots, which spread divisive propaganda," Feinstein said. Earlier this week, EPIC sent a statement to the House Judiciary Committee arguing that "algorithmic transparency" could help establish fairness, transparency, and accountability for much of what users see online. EPIC has also recommended identification requirements for drones.
Today the Department of Justice released a summary and assessment of federal agencies' Chief FOIA Officer Reports. The annual FOIA Report provides a detailed assessment of FOIA processing across the federal government. The summary tracks the Department's FOIA Guidelines: Applying the Presumption of Openness, Having Effective Systems for Responding to Requests, Making Information Available Proactively, Utilizing Technology, and Reducing Backlogs and Improving Timeliness. The guidance offers methods to manage these backlogs, guidance on closing oldest consultations, and recommending that agencies post raw data from the annual FOIA reports. EPIC pursues an extensive FOIA docket.
EPIC and a coalition of groups gave the White House the final go-ahead today to destroy the state voter data unlawfully collected by the Presidential Election Commission. In a notice to the federal court overseeing EPIC v. Commission, EPIC and the other groups that sued the Commission said that the White House should delete the data as it stated earlier it would. The deletion of the voter data is the outcome EPIC sought in EPIC v. Commission, which challenged the Commission for failing to conduct a required Privacy Impact Assessment before collecting personal data. As a result of EPIC's case, the Commission previously suspended its data collection, discontinued the use of an unsafe computer server, and deleted a prior batch of voter information that was illegally obtained. The Commission was disbanded in January.
