Federal Trade Commission

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is asking the public to weigh in on whether new rules are needed to protect people’s privacy and information in the commercial surveillance economy. Commercial surveillance is the business of collecting, analyzing, and profiting from information about people. Technologies essential to everyday life also enable near-constant surveillance of people’s private lives.

The Federal Trade Commission will consider new federal rules to expand online privacy protections by targeting online surveillance and lax data-security practices by technology companies. The FTC will examine a range of concerns about the online environment, including the widespread use of algorithms to manipulate and leverage data, security practices that leave data vulnerable to hackers, and the growing evidence that some platforms might be “addictive to children and lead to a wide variety of mental health and social harms.” The FTC also will examine possible discrim

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking the public’s input on ways to modernize the agency’s business guidance titled “.com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising.” First published in March 2013, this resource provides guidance to businesses on digital advertising and marketing. As digital deception grows in sophistication, some companies are wrongly citing the guides to justify practices that mislead consumers online.