The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hosted a public forum last week to target "commercial surveillance and lax cybersecurity." While data privacy is a legitimate concern, FTC chief Lina Khan and her allies are vilifying legitimate business practices and increasingly overstepping their congressionally granted authority.
Many people are concerned about "surveillance" by anyone, no matter the intent. But the data practices Khan's agency is thinking of regulating aren't really surveillance at all. The advance notice of proposed rulemaking covers everything from the mere collection of data to specific questions about certain types of users' unique risks, which could eliminate many beneficial uses of data. Khan is conflating beneficial and risky data collection practices in an effort to kneecap successful business models she dislikes, without thinking about the impact on consumers.
