The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is initiating an effort to garner public comment regarding commercial data collection and use as a means of determining potential new regulations.
“Firms now collect personal data on individuals at a massive scale and in a stunning array of contexts,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said. “The growing digitization of our economy—coupled with business models that can incentivize endless hoovering up of sensitive user data and a vast expansion of how this data is used—means that potentially unlawful practices may be prevalent.”
The FTC seeks to address harmful commercial surveillance and relaxed data security practices. Commercial surveillance is defined as the business of collecting, analyzing, and profiting from information about people.
An FTC-hosted virtual public forum on Sept. 8 will provide the public with an opportunity to share input.
The FTC acknowledged while it currently does not possess the authority to enforce regulations over credit unions, the advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) suggests rulemaking designed to regulate the collection and use of consumers’ data economy-wide.
Additionally, FTC maintains the NAFCU-opposed American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) could provide the FTC broad authority to implement and enforce new data privacy and data security standards, including over credit unions.