Today:  US Congress Holds Hearing On Public Safety Bills, FTC Privacy Shield Settlement

US Congress Holds Hearing On Public Safety Bills

Yesterday, the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing to discuss bipartisan legislation to improve the 9-1-1 system and strengthen public safety communications. The bills examined included:

• H.R. 6424, the 9-1-1 Fee Integrity Act, sponsored by #SubCommTech Vice Chairman Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA). The bill would direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue rules, within six months of enactment, that would designate what is and is not an acceptable use of 9-1-1 fees collected by State, local, and Tribal governments. 
• H.R. 5700, the National Non-Emergency Mobile Number Act, introduced by Reps. Susan Brooks (R-IN) and Eshoo. The bill would direct the FCC to start a proceeding to designate a national abbreviated dialing code for mobile-device users to reach public safety personnel in critical, but non-emergency, circumstances. 
• H.R. 6003, the Anti-Swatting Act of 2018, introduced by Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) and #SubDCCP Vice Chairman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL). The bill would stiffen criminal penalties against those who intentionally transmit false or misleading caller ID information to Public Safety Answer Points with an intent to trigger an emergency response from law enforcement and first responders when in fact there is no threat to life, health or property.

The Majority Memorandum, witness testimony, and an archived webcast are available online here.

FTC Privacy Shield Settlement

The FTC announced it reached a settlement with four companies that falsely claimed they participated in the EU-US Privacy Shield.  The Privacy Shield establishes a process to allow companies to transfer consumer data from European Union countries to the United States in compliance with EU law.  The Department of Commerce administers the Privacy Shield framework, while the FTC enforces the promises companies make when joining the framework.

“Companies need to know that if they fail to honor their Privacy Shield commitments, or falsely claim participation in the Privacy Shield framework, we will hold them accountable,” said Andrew Smith, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “We have now brought enforcement actions against eight companies related to the Privacy Shield, and we will continue to aggressively enforce the Privacy Shield and other cross-border privacy frameworks.” 

The FTC alleged that IDmission, which offers cloud-based technology platform services, applied in 2017 for Privacy Shield certification with the U.S. Department of Commerce but never completed the necessary steps to be certified under the program. Despite this, the company claimed on its website that it “complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy shield framework.” According to the FTC complaints, SmartStart, VenPath and mResource each obtained Privacy Shield certification in 2016 but allowed their certifications to lapse. Despite this, all three companies included statements posted on their websites that they participated in the Privacy Shield.  The FTC further alleged that VenPath and SmartStart failed to abide by the Privacy Shield requirement that companies that stop participation in the Privacy Shield affirm to the Department of Commerce that they will continue to apply the Privacy Shield protections to personal information collected while participating in the program.

As part of the proposed settlements with the FTC, all four companies are prohibited from misrepresenting the extent to which they participate in any privacy or data security program sponsored by the government or any self-regulatory or standard-setting organization and must comply with FTC reporting requirements. In addition, VenPath and SmartStart must also continue to apply the Privacy Shield protections to personal information they collected while participating in the program, protect it by another means authorized by the Privacy Shield framework, or return or delete the information within 10 days of the order.

The FTC will publish a description of the consent agreement packages in the Federal Register shortly. The agreements will be subject to public comment through October 29, 2018, after which the Commission will decide whether to make the proposed consent orders final.

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 The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.