Featured Post:
The FCC Capped Rates on Prison Phone Calls, Here’s What Needs to Happen Next
Jake Wiener, EPIC Counsel

After more than 20 years of tireless advocacy by incarcerated people, their families, and their allies including EPIC, the FCC finally imposed meaningful caps on how much prison telecommunications companies can charge for prison phone and video calls. Rate caps and a ban on site commissions will help create a less corrupt and fairer market for prison telecoms. But we need much more aggressive regulation before incarcerated people, their loved ones, and their lawyers have reliable, affordable, and private communications.

More EPIC Analysis:
 
“Free” Prison Tablets: In Promise and In Practice
Alissa Johnson, EPIC Law Clerk

Wristwatched: A New Frontier of Health Monitoring in Prisons
Danielle Dorchester, EPIC Law Clerk

Emerging Consensus & Increased Accountability: How Cybersecurity Regulation is Changing
Vaishali Nambiar, EPIC Summer Law Clerk

Update: Tracking of Real Algorithmic Harms in California as CCPA Enforcement Begins
With contributions from EPIC Law Clerk Alissa Johnson

Ninth Circuit Revives Case Challenging Google’s Bait-and-Switch Data Practices
The Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in Calhoun v. Google LLC reversing a lower court decision in favor of Google. The Court sent the case back to the district court to evaluate whether a “reasonable” user of the Google Chrome browser should be presumed to have consented to certain misleading and convoluted privacy policies. EPIC submitted an amicus brief in the case urging the court to hold that users who specifically opted out of syncing their information from Chrome with their Google accounts did not consent to the more invasive data practices disclosed in Google’s general privacy policy.

EPIC Backs CPPA’s Efforts to Strengthen Data Broker Registry
EPIC submitted comments to the California Privacy Protection Agency in support of proposed improvements to the state’s data broker registry. The CPPA’s new rules are a significant step towards reining in the data broker industry, which has long thrived on the overcollection of personal information, harmful consumer profiling, and a lack of oversight. The regulations, proposed under California’s Delete Act, would clarify brokers’ obligations under the Act and establish consumer-friendly definitions for terms like reproductive health care data. EPIC urged the Agency to require that the registry include an individual point of contact for each company, giving consumers an easier way to follow up with brokers that fail to honor their access, correction, or deletion requests.

EPIC Praises CFPB’s Proposal to Ban Medical Debt from Credit Reports
In comments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, EPIC expressed support for the CFPB’s proposed rules to largely prohibit the inclusion of medical debt information on credit reports. The proposed rules would protect the privacy of consumers’ sensitive medical information and promote fairness and accuracy in credit reporting.

Fifth Circuit Rules that Geofence Warrants Are Inherently Unconstitutional
In a recent opinion in United States v. Jamarr Smith, the Fifth Circuit ruled that geofence warrants are inherently unconstitutional. This ruling breaks from ones issued recently by the Fourth Circuit and the Colorado Supreme Court, which condoned the government’s use of the invasive warrants. It potentially tees up a landmark Supreme Court Fourth Amendment case sometime in the near future.

Ninth Circuit Recognizes Section 230 Not a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card for Tech Companies That Allegedly Lie to Users
The Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in Bride v. YOLO Technologies, an important case about the proper scope of Section 230, a law that prevents certain types of lawsuits against companies that run online platforms. EPIC and Fairplay had filed an amicus brief in the case urging the court to rule that Section 230 did not block the claims. The court issued a mixed ruling in which it recognized that Section 230 did not prohibit the claims based on the app developer’s misrepresentations to users, but Section 230 did prohibit the plaintiffs’ claims alleging that the app was defectively designed.

Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Portion of California AADC but Leaves the Rest Intact for Now
The Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in NetChoice v. Bonta in which it affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court order that found the California Age Appropriate Design Code unconstitutional. EPIC had submitted an amicus brief in the case urging the Ninth Circuit to recognize the law as constitutional. How the case proceeds in the future will potentially determine whether legislatures will be able to pass privacy and consumer protection laws.

EPIC Joins Coalition Urging FCC to Strengthen Consumer Privacy and Trust in IoT Cybersecurity Label
EPIC joined Consumer Reports, Carnegie Mellon University, Public Knowledge, and New York University in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to take five key steps to boost consumer confidence in its voluntary cybersecurity labeling program for the Internet of Things (IoT). The groups explained that the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark must ensure accurate labels, include disclosures about sensors and other privacy concerns, and promote third-party accountability.

EPIC Coalition Amicus: Congress Gave FCC Authority to Protect Phone Subscribers with Breach Notification Rules
EPIC, joined by Public Knowledge and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, urged the Sixth Circuit to find that the Federal Communications Commission has the authority to require telecom companies to notify phone subscribers when their data has been accessed without authorization.

U.S. Sues TikTok for Significant Child Privacy Violations
The Department of Justice sued TikTok for “flagrantly violating” the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, and a 2019 FTC Consent Order resulting from previous COPPA and FTC Act violations.