Issues
Consumer Privacy
Improper tracking and profiling of internet users is widespread because companies have been allowed to set their own rules and ignore data protection standards. EPIC seeks to protect users from data abuses and strengthen privacy standards online.
Background
When consumers make a purchase online, browse the internet, or scroll through social media, they expect that companies will use their information solely for the purposes of the transaction. All too often, companies misuse, sell, or fail to protect consumers’ personal information. EPIC has a particular interest in protecting consumer privacy and has played a leading role in developing the authority of the Federal Trade Commission to address emerging privacy issues and to safeguard the privacy rights of consumers. EPIC has also long advocated for a comprehensive U.S. privacy law and a Data Protection Agency.
Areas of Focus Within Consumer Privacy
Get more detail on issues related to Consumer Privacy
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Communications Privacy
Individuals reasonably expect that content and details of their electronic communications will remain private. Abusive commercial data practices and government surveillance threaten that privacy.
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Competition and Privacy
Privacy protection and platform competition are closely linked. A lack of both has enabled a small number of firms to consolidate and exploit huge volumes of personal data.
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Data Brokers
Regulation is desperately needed to protect individuals from companies that aggregate and sell personal information at industrial scale.
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Data Minimization
Data minimization offers a practical solution to a broken internet ecosystem by providing clear limits on how companies can collect and use data.
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Online Advertising & Tracking
Massive troves of personal data are collected and transferred within the targeted advertising ecosystem. This ubiquitous tracking of everything we do online, and the entities that aggregate and monetize it, poses threats to consumers’ privacy, autonomy, and security.
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Robocalls
Robocalls are more than a minor inconvenience; they are a serious privacy invasion. EPIC regularly defends the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the federal anti-robocall statute.
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Social Media Privacy
Many social media platforms are built on excessive collection, algorithmic processing, and commercial exploitation of users’ personal data. That must change.
Top Updates
Michigan Senate Passes Michigan Personal Data Privacy Act
December 13, 2024
Contact EPIC’s Experts on Consumer Privacy
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John Davisson
EPIC Senior Counsel and Director of Litigation
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Sara Geoghegan
EPIC Senior Counsel
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Caitriona Fitzgerald
Deputy Director
Explore EPIC’s Work on Consumer Privacy
Browse amicus briefs, documentation obtained through FOIA litigation, testimony, agency comments, and archival materials related to EPIC’s work on consumer privacy.
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