It has been almost two years since Lina Khan was designated the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair, and it has been an eventful few years. One of the many questions being asked is “Where do things stand at the FTC on privacy?” Congress has yet to pass comprehensive privacy legislation, and the FTC continues to mostly use its decades-old statute to bring privacy cases that are not always well suited to such an antiquated law.
This challenge became readily apparent in a recent FTC case brought against Kochava, a data broker that allegedly, among other things, sold to or shared with third parties precise geolocation data that, when associated with unique persistent identifiers, could reveal consumers’ visits to sensitive locations, such as reproductive health facilities or houses of worship. The FTC had alleged that selling or sharing this data was an unfair practice. Of course, to show that a practice is unfair, the agency must show that it 1) causes or is likely to
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