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The Select Committee on Communications of the House of Lords (Committee) published a report discussing UK regulation of ‘digital services facilitated by the internet’.

We summarise some of the key recommendations of the report, which was published on 9 March 2019:

1. A central regulatory body called the Digital Authority should be set up to co-ordinate internet regulation.

2. All future internet regulation should be informed by 10 common principles:

  • Parity: ensuring online and offline regulation offer equivalent protection for individuals.
  • Accountability: digital actors are to be held to account.
  • Transparency: powerful digital actors should be open to scrutiny.
  • Openness: facilitate innovation and choice for users.
  • Privacy: ensure that regulation closes the gap between policy and user expectations about data protection and data privacy.
  • Ethical design: ethical standards should be incorporated into the design of technology and delivered by default.
  • Recognition of childhood: protect children and ensure accessibility.
  • Respect for human rights and equality: safeguard freedom of expression.
  • Education and awareness-raising: promote digital literacy.
  • Democratic accountability, proportionality and evidence-based approach: ensure that regulation is evidence based and prevents harm while balancing against the right to freedom of expression.

Continue Reading Regulating digital services – UK parliament weighs in

This month, the Indianapolis Colts, app developer Yinzcam, Inc., and ultrasonic technology provider Lisnr, Inc., were hit with a federal class action lawsuit in Pennsylvania for violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act by allegedly allowing the Colts fan app to listen in on users’ personal phone conversations, and use that information for advertising purposes without …

The FTC unveiled a lengthy report, Big Data: A Tool for Inclusion or Exclusion? Understanding the Issues, warning companies about commercial uses of big data and the discriminatory impact it may have on low-income and underserved populations. “Big data” refers to the ubiquitous collection of massive amounts of consumer information by companies, which may be analyzed to reveal certain consumer patterns, trends, and associations.

While the term may conjure up an ominous feeling for some, big data has brought numerous advantages to society by efficiently and effectively matching products and services to consumers of all demographics. However, the FTC’s report warns that potential inaccuracies and biases might lead to detrimental effects on low-income and underserved populations, such as the misuse of personal information, reinforcing existing biases and disparities against certain populations, perpetuating fraud against vulnerable consumers, and weakening the overall effectiveness of consumer choice. While companies can design efficient big data algorithms that learn from human patterns and behavior, those algorithms may also “learn” to generate biased results.
Continue Reading FTC Warns Big Data Brings Big Consequences in New Report

This post was also written by Christopher G. Cwalina, Khurram Nasir Gore, Amy S. Mushahwar and Steven B. Roosa.

A warning from the California Attorney General’s office to mobile app developers: “Don’t get cute!” On February 22, California’s Attorney General Kamala Harris announced that her office and the six leading mobile application platform providers –…

This post was also written by Nick Tyler, Christopher G. Cwalina and Steven B. Roosa.

Following the widely reported allegation that a social network’s iPhone app had uploaded the names, addresses and phone numbers of users’ contacts onto their servers without permission, both Apple and U.S. legislators have moved swiftly to try to curb this…