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Two Years Post-Dobbs: A Commercial Surveillance Landscape That is Confusing, Complicated, and Harmful to Abortion Seekers
Sara Geoghegan, EPIC Counsel

Two years ago, the Supreme Court rescinded the constitutional right to an abortion in its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. Reproductive privacy is an issue that encompasses bodily autonomy, decisional privacy, and—in an increasingly surveilled state in the digital age—data privacy. EPIC works to enshrine and protect a person’s right to choose abortion health care, advocates for limits on harmful consumer profiling that could reveal pregnancy status and other health conditions, and promotes strong data minimization rules that would prevent personal information related to or revealing reproductive health care from being accessed by law enforcement.

More EPIC Analysis:

The Role of Digital Privacy in Ensuring Access to Abortion and Reproductive Health Care in Post-Dobbs America
Suzanne Bernstein, EPIC Law Fellow

Success of FCC’s IoT Cyber Trust Mark Depends Upon Meaningful Standards, Transparency, and Accountability
Christopher Frascella, EPIC Counsel

EPIC Publishes Resources on CFPB Data Broker Rulemaking
As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau considers adopting new rules under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, EPIC is publishing a series of resources about the rulemaking process and the urgent need to crack down on data brokers through the FCRA. EPIC has also published three information sheets—FCRA Rulemaking: A Path to Reining in Data Brokers; FCRA Rulemaking: Rule Proposals; and Data Broker Threats: National Security.

EPIC, Coalition Urge California to Make Data Broker Deletion Mechanism Painless for Consumers
EPIC joined comments to the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) concerning the agency’s implementation of SB 362—also known as the Delete Act—alongside Consumer Reports, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. The Delete Act requires the CPPA to create a central mechanism for Californians to demand that their personal information be deleted from all data brokers registered in the state.

EPIC, Coalition Urge FCC to Promptly Issue Order Protecting Domestic Violence Survivors from Abuse through Connected Cars Services
EPIC, the Clinic to End Tech Abuse, the National Network to End Domestic Violence, and Public Knowledge filed reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission on protecting survivors of domestic violence from attempts to control, surveil, harass, or otherwise re-victimize them through misuse of connected car services.

EPIC, NCLC Urge FTC to Clarify Scope and Include Non-Monetary Costs in Tech Support Telemarketing Sales Rule
EPIC and the National Consumer Law Center submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission in support of its proposed modification to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), with additional recommendations. The TSR includes many consumer protections such as restrictions on what times of day telemarketers can call, and what disclosures they must make over the phone, but many of these protections only apply if the telemarketer initiates the call to the consumer. In its proposed rulemaking, the FTC acknowledged that many tech support scams are perpetrated by an online ad or other communication that induces the consumer to contact the scammer.

EPIC & NCLC Urge Second Circuit to Rehear Case About Automated Call Protections
EPIC and the National Consumer Law Center filed an amicus brief urging the full Second Circuit to rehear Soliman v. Subway, a case about whether the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s autodialer restriction protects against automated calls or only randomly dialed calls.

EPIC Urges GSA to Minimize Use of SSNs, Limit Unnecessary Fraud Prevention Practices on Login.gov
In comments to the General Services Administration, EPIC urged the agency to limit contracts for fraud prevention to a single third-party provider and to investigate and consider abandoning behavioral analytics techniques. Login.gov is a sign-on service for members of the public to access information and services from various federal agencies. The GSA currently contracts with data broker LexisNexis for fraud prevention and identity proofing services. EPIC also urged the GSA to more aggressively limit the transmission of Social Security Numbers to only necessary applications.

EPIC, Coalition Amicus: People Retain a Privacy Interest in the Data on Lost Phones
In an amicus brief in United States v. Hunt, EPIC, the ACLU, the ACLU of Oregon, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers argued that under the landmark Supreme Court case Riley v. California, police must get a warrant before searching the digital contents of a cell-phone, even if the physical phone itself was abandoned by its owner.

EPIC Joins Letter Urging Restoration of Civil Rights Protections in APRA
A markup of the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) was postponed this week. EPIC had joined a letter led by the Leadership Conference, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the ACLU urging the Committee to postpone the markup and restore key civil rights protections.

Vermont Senate Fails to Override Vermont Data Privacy Act Veto
The Vermont Legislature took up Governor Phil Scott’s veto of H. 121, the Vermont Privacy Act, in a veto override session. The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to override the veto with a 128-17 vote. “Companies should not be profiting from the sale of consumers’ most personal data, such as a child’s data, or data about a consumers’ race, religion, genetic data, sex life, precise geolocation, or health,” bill sponsor Representative Monique Priestley said in a floor speech.

Rhode Island House Passes Weak “Privacy” Law
The Rhode Island House of Representatives and Senate passed a weak “privacy” bill that fails to provide meaningful protections for Rhode Islanders. The bill is now set to move to Rhode Island Governor McKee for consideration. EPIC, Consumer Reports, and Restore the Fourth sent letters to Senators and the Governor in opposition. “The bill needs to be substantially improved before it is enacted; otherwise, it would risk locking in industry-friendly provisions that avoid actual reform,” the groups wrote.

EPIC Releases its AI Legislation Scorecard
EPIC published its AI Legislation Scorecard, a first-of-its-kind rubric for lawmakers, journalists, advocates and academics to use when evaluating the strength of state and federal AI bills. EPIC’s AI Legislation Scorecard comes as the United States faces a tidal wave of new AI legislation, with hundreds of AI bills being introduced in at least 40 states and dozens of federal regulations following suit.

EPIC Launches AI Legislation Scorecard with Virtual Panel Discussion
EPIC hosted a virtual launch event for our AI Legislation Scorecard on June 25. EPIC staff were joined by Vermont Representative Monique Priestley, Alicia Solow-Niederman, Associate Professor, George Washington University Law School, Adam Billen, Director of Policy, Encode Justice, Nik Marda, Technical Lead, AI Governance, Mozilla.

EPIC Pushes NIST to Focus its Approach to Generative AI Risks Around Who and How AI Harms
EPIC submitted comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology with feedback on three draft documents the agency has produced in response to President Biden’s AI Executive Order, including additional recommendations on generative AI risk classification, AI transparency, and stakeholder engagement.

SCOTUS Finds No Standing for Plaintiffs in Murthy v. Missouri First Amendment Jawboning Case
The Supreme Court issued a decision in Murthy v. Missouri, ruling that the plaintiffs had failed to prove that there was a risk the government would unconstitutionally coerce social media companies to remove their future posts. The decision reverses a lower court injunction that prevented White House and other executive branch officials from certain communications with platforms, clearing the way for government officials to share information with platforms about misinformation campaigns that threaten public health and election integrity.