Soltani to Pelosi: “ADPPA Represents a False Choice”

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Soltani to Pelosi: “ADPPA Represents a False Choice“

In a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader McCarthy, Ashkan Soltani, Executive Director of the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA), expressed his opposition to the proposed American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA).

The letter stated that the ADPPA represents a “false choice” because it takes the rights of Californian away to provide “substantively weaker” privacy rights federally.

He suggested that the federal bill, which in its current form would preempt most U.S. state comprehensive privacy laws, should provide a floor of federal protections while also preserving the ability of states to adopt stronger state laws. 

BACKGROUND

Soltani’s letter is in furtherance of a unanimous vote by the CPPA last month to oppose the ADPPA, citing the bill’s broad preemption language as the reason for its opposition.

The CPPA also decided last month that it would support federal legislation that provides a floor for states while allowing states to implement stronger protections.

The ADPPA was recommended to the full House by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and is awaiting a House vote.

IAB Warns of “Unintended Consequences” From FTC Rulemaking

In response to the FTC’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued earlier this month, the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Executive Vice President for Public Policy, Lartese Tiffith, issued a statement warning of the impact severe restrictions on digital advertising issued by the FTC could have on the “data-driven economy and ad-supported internet”.

The statement points out that such restrictions “could jeopardize over 17 million jobs and trillions of dollars of annual economic output” and would hit small businesses the hardest.

Instead, the statement says the IAB supports “reasonable policies to protect Americans’ private information, a healthy environment for children, fairness, transparency and accountability”. 

A DEEPER LOOK

The Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) issued a similar statement earlier this month, calling the FTC’s use of the term “surveillance” a loaded term to describe established business practices that benefit consumers, small business, and a competitive marketplace.

Although the IAB’s statement says “it’s clear that the [FTC] majority envisions big changes to the way entire industries do business online”, it’s not clear at this stage exactly what those changes may be.

Certain advocates, such the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Accountable Tech have encouraged the FTC to prohibit “surveillance advertising” altogether.

The FTC’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking has sought feedback on how to balance costs and benefits of current practices as well as how the FTC should regulate such practices, including, as examples: regulations addressing data security, use of biometric information, automated decision-making, algorithmic discrimiation, and methods for consent, notice, transparency and disclosure. 

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