Google must face most of Texas AG’s antitrust lawsuit, which alleges, among other things, that the company illegally monopolized the advertising technology market. Google won its motion to dismiss an allegation that it entered into an anticompetitive agreement in 2018 with Meta’s Facebook—codenamed Jedi Blue—with respect to advertising auctions. Despite Google having to face all but the one claim in the suit, the company is considering the dismissal a win, asserting that the dismissal highlights the flawed nature of the AG’s case.
Google lost a challenge against an EU antitrust decision, resulting in a record fine of €4.1 billion for the company. Europe’s General Court broadly upheld the Commission’s decision concluding that Google imposed unlawful restrictions on Android mobile device manufacturers and network operators in order to support the dominance of its search engine.
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) is seeking public comments related to its oversight project examining Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Section 702 is a key FISA provision permitting the government to conduct targeted surveillance of foreign persons located outside the United States, with the compelled assistance of electronic communication service providers, to acquire intelligence information.
At a “listening session” about tech platform accountability, the White House has renewed a call to remove the shield allowing platforms to disseminate content without liability. President Biden previously called for the revocation of the liability shield, also known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, on the campaign trail in 2020. Biden will need Congressional action for the change, but there is limited bipartisan consensus on how to fix the law.
Apple added multiple new privacy and security features in its newly released iOS 16. One of the privacy features is called Safety Check and allows people to quickly reset data and location access sharing. According to Apple, the feature is aimed at those in domestic or intimate partner violence situations. For non-emergency situations, Apple has rolled out a Manage and Sharing Access walkthrough that allows individuals to review sharing permissions and data access.
Apple, who for years has been a vocal critic of data-intensive online advertising models, is now making a push to become a bigger seller of ads. Apple will likely face criticism that it is acting hypocritical, given that many features across its devices, operating system, and its safari browser have been designed to block tracking technologies and limit the sharing of person or device-level information. In order to be successful with its advertising efforts, the company must integrate its advertising initiatives into its ecosystem without detrimentally impacting its renowned user experience.
Google and Meta were hit with a whopping fines totaling ~$71.8M (100 billion KRW) by South Korean authorities due to a finding that the companies violated the country’s privacy law. According to South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), Google and Meta failed to receive legitimate consent in the process of collecting information from users. These penalties are the largest to date in South Korea for violation of the personal information protection laws.
The FTC published an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking to request public comment on the prevalence of commercial surveillance and data security practices that harm consumers. The Commission is specifically inviting comment on whether it should implement new trade rules or other regulatory alternatives concerning the ways in which “companies collect, aggregate, protect, use, analyze, and retain consumer data, as well as transfer, share, sell, or otherwise monetize that data in ways that are unfair or deceptive.” Comments must be received on or before October 21, 2022.
Upcoming NYC events:
- Simons Foundation Presidential Lecture: Algorithmic Fairness from a Sociotechnical Lens (Wednesday, September 21, 2022; 5:30pm doors)
- Cornell Tech’s 4th Annual Symposium on Applications of Contextual Integrity (Thursday, September 22-Friday, September 23)
(Compiled by Student Fellow Tanner Co)