Facing potential fines of 20 million euros under the EU general data protection regulation (GDPR), U.S. companies fear significant action against American firms soon after the law takes effect May 25, Venable partner Kelly DeMarchis Bastide said Friday.
Karl Herchenroeder
Karl Herchenroeder, Associate Editor, is a technology policy journalist for publications including Communications Daily. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2018. He began his journalism career in 2012 at the Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado, where he covered city government. After that, he covered the nuclear industry for ExchangeMonitor in Washington. You can follow Herchenroeder on Twitter: @karlherk
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act strikes a balance Congress probably couldn’t repeat today, said industry and digital rights representatives Thursday, despite hearing one independent filmmaker’s claim of lack of recourse for piracy. Silicon Flatirons panelists discussed Section 512, a safe harbor that makes certain providers -- like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube -- immune from liability for copyright infringement linked to user-generated content.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, has a commitment to bring up the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) (S-1693) (see 1803020024) after consideration of a Senate banking bill and is hopeful for a vote next week, he told us Thursday. A Portman staffer said proponents will pursue the House version of the bill. After the House passed the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) (HR-1865) with more than 380 votes, the White House announced its support. “We’re looking forward to getting it done,” Portman said, calling House passage and White House support “encouraging.”
While convenient for consumers and cost-effective for certain businesses, the rise of e-commerce creates data security and privacy concerns, and it threatens small businesses without an online footprint, the House Digital Commerce Subcommittee heard Wednesday, as expected (see 1803060041). Hel’s Kitchen Catering founder David Borris called Amazon “an existential threat” to millions of small businesses. Small firms lack resources to establish quality online platforms, he said, and sometimes spend the equivalent of 8 to 10 percent of profit to compete. Amazon responded by citing to us that more than 50 percent of Amazon unit sales come from third-party sellers; more than 2 million offer hundreds of millions of unique products through Amazon’s Marketplace; and more than 100,000 have more than $100,000 in sales through Amazon.
House Cybersecurity Subcommittee members hammered Department of Homeland Security officials at a hearing Wednesday for failing to fill cybersecurity vacancies. One DHS official blamed the delay partly on a pay-scale system designed in the 1940s, preventing the agency from hiring top talent.
The House Digital Commerce Subcommittee expects to hear from e-commerce experts Wednesday on a range of consumer issues, including data security, consumer privacy and IoT technology, said Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and an executive in interviews Tuesday. The hearing is expected to examine how e-commerce altered retail and its impacts on supply chain, delivery and consumer expectations. This e-commerce trend has been made possible by modern payment methods like blockchain technology and convenient delivery options, enabled in part by emerging IoT technologies.
An argument against concerns about the size of online platforms is that they're providing useful services consumers enjoy, and government intervention would damage the quality of products. That's not stopping tech critics from both parties from ratcheting up their scrutiny of major tech companies, a trend that some expect to continue.
Cloud Act sponsor Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told us Thursday he’s hopeful the legislation will get attached to the fiscal 2018 spending bill, though it will require consent from “an awful lot of folks.” Agreement would need to come from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., who respectively chair the Senate and House Judiciary Committees and could assert jurisdiction over the bill and schedule hearings (see 1802140062). Oral argument in U.S. v. Microsoft was held last week before the Supreme Court, where justices explored implications of the Cloud Act (S-2383) (see 1802270052).
The Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) (HR-1865) the House passed Tuesday evening (see 1802270057) is an example of the need for government intervention in the absence of action from tech companies, said House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. During an appearance Wednesday at an Axios event, he expressed skepticism online platforms couldn't formulate algorithms that weed out malicious actors. If private enterprise isn't responsible and doesn’t actively respond to community needs, regulation is needed, he said. “We passed a law yesterday to deal with it,” he said, while drawing parallels to alleged Russian U.S. election interference. “It’s shocking that this couldn’t have been identified before and managed differently, and that may require additional disclosure requirements,” he said, adding he would like a “light touch” in this space, but people are “demanding accountability.” Consumers want more control over their data and privacy, he said.
FTC members and staffers heard from academics about privacy, security and other risks in a range of connected products and in some of the programming that undergirds parts of the IoT. Many shared parts of their research and published papers Wednesday during the FTC’s PrivacyCon.