Back in 2011 , Facebooksettleda case with the Federal Trade Commission and sign on a unique arrangement in which it pledged to follow several guidelines to protect user ’ privateness . It ’s very possible that this year’sCambridge Analytica scandalshowed that Facebook violated that correspondence and could face “ trillions of dollars ” in fines . But eight months later , the FTC wo n’t say what ’s happening with its investigation .
On Tuesday , the commissioners from the FTC sit before the Senate Commerce Consumer Protection Subcommitteeto discussthe means ’s current precedence . At the top of virtually every senator ’s list of business organisation was what the FTC is doing to protect consumers ’ privacy and hold tech companies accountable . In his opening affirmation , the Republican subcommittee chairperson Senator Jerry Moran criticized recent datum breaches experienced by Facebook and Google , and he acknowledged that it ’s abundantly open that it ’s time to put across a Union consumer data privateness police . He said that he hopes to mould with the FTC on crafting that statute law and learning what tool the government agency postulate to do its task .
If the FTC is , in fact , doing its job and investigating whether Facebook has violated its 2011 consent fiat , the government agency ’s chair , Joseph Simons would n’t say . When Senator Richard Blumenthal take Simons when the FTC ’s investigation will be complete and when results will be lay out to the public , Simons would only say , “ It ’s out or keeping for me to notice on a specific non - public probe . ” That was the standard response to any interrogative about its investigating , including when Senator Edward Markey asked if the FTC is looking into YouTube and Google’scontroversialtargeting of children with shoddy marketing practices .
There were two major payoff that came up again and again during the hearing : the FTC ’s title that it needs more resources and everyone ’s cite that the agency has a poor track record when it comes to enforcement . In his porta statement , Commissioner Rohit Chopra tied the two issues together , saying that too often the FTC is unforced to bear a settlement in Holy Order to avoid a dear trial . “ While big penalties made for good headlines , I question whether they sincerely deterred lawbreaking , ” Chopra said .
This detail make it all the more evident that the agency has an fantabulous case on its hand to practice as an example that it will follow through on enforcing its threats . Facebook hasadmittedthat it mishandled the datum of87 million usersand get it decrease into the helping hand of a political information analytics firm that work for the Trump presidential election campaign . This is something it was aware of in 2015 but only became public in March . The app developer that sucked up all that data point from Facebook involve exploiter for their permit , but it did n’t incur permission to gather data from exploiter ’ friends . That could make a violation of the 2011consent edict , in which Facebook agreed to notify users and gain explicit permit before sharing information with a third - political party that falls outdoors of a users ’ privacy circumstance .
In March , theWashington Postspoke with David Vladeck , the former FTC point - person on the Facebook colony . Vladeck tell the Post that the Cambridge Analytica sheath “ lift serious enquiry about compliance with the FTC consent decree . ” Facebook rule out “ any prompting of a usurpation of the consent decree , ” but Vladeck still say that he fully expected the FTC to launch an investigation . Though Vladeck evidence the Post that Facebook could be confronted with a fine in “ the million of one dollar bill , ” due to its agreement to pay $ 40,000 per violation , he doubted that the bureau would impose such a heavy deal .
Still , the FTC could do something , anything really . It ’s been weird to listen into Facebook investor calls since the dirt broke sooner this year and to never get word any questions about potential amercement that could be amount . It ’s almost like investors have no faith that the FTC will do its line . I ca n’t think of a better agency for the government agency to show that whimsy incorrect .
[ C - Span ]
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