Biden warns against "tech-industrial complex" in farewell address

Privacy News
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Given the drama surrounding Andy Yen and Proton, do you think the Biden Administration has done enough to ensure basic privacy rights and fight back against big tech? Regardless, the new few years will be important to watch closely

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There are/were bigger issues to fight for first I think - but FTC does seem be going after big tech abuses. We’ll see what happens next.

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No, but I also didn’t have any expectations. It has been almost a decade since the GDPR was adopted in the EU. Meanwhile, the US is nowhere close to federal privacy legislation which could significantly rein in some of their biggest tech companies (Meta, Netflix, Google, etc.). I hope I’m wrong and this changes soon, but at the moment I’m much more hopeful in the ability of EU legislators and regulators to contain the tech-industrial complex, at least within the single market.

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I’m skeptical we’ll ever see a US version of the GDPR enacted at the federal level. Some individual states have made their own consumer privacy laws (California most famously), but they are nowhere near as effective as the GDPR at protecting privacy. I can’t speak for all Americans here but I find myself hoping the EU will do more to hold ‘big tech’ accountable and maybe, big maybe, that will grant us in America some reprieve.

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I don’t think that any US administration has “done enough” to ensure basic privacy rights. I think that change will likely continue to happen at the state level first. At the Federal level, there doesn’t seem to be much focus on privacy.

With that said, I think the Biden administration has done some good things with respect to tech policy and other digital rights issues, and a few things that directly relate to privacy and/or security:

  1. Lina Khan was a solid pick @ FTC. Stronger than most on enforcement, anti-trust, consumer rights, etc.
    • Strong defender of Net Neutrality
    • Enforced penalties (150M) against Twitter for deceiving users and abusing user data and PII.
    • Investigating OpenAI for mismanagement of user data.
    • Defender and advocate of ‘right to repair’
    • Fought for ‘click to cancel rule’ [1]
    • Various Anti-trust investigations and prosecutions [2]
    • edit: and I just saw, the FTC has proposed action against GM/On-star for sharing/selling customer location data.
  2. FCC and FTC under Biden fought to reinstate Net Neutrality protections. The FCC under Biden reclassified broadband as a public utility, effectively reinstating Net Neutrality(Net Neutrality protections had been stripped away by the Trump administration in 2017). [3]
  3. Biden enacted a pair of programs meant to make Broadband more accessible and affordable for those who need it most. Specifically the Affordable Connectivity Program brought affordable broadband to lower income Americans that struggle to afford it. And a program that brings broadband to rural and underserved areas who have not been served by the private sector.
  4. Investments in hardening critical infrastructure (power grid, utilities, transportation networks) against cyberattacks, Some of this is under the umbrella of the infrastructure bill, and some has come as executive orders, etc.
  5. Executive Order that would set up a certification program for consumer IoT-like devices which meet a minimum standard of security.

edit: hey @cooolguy it’d be cool to know what specifically you are silently thumbs-downing (feels like reddit), if you think something is inaccurate, please let me know, and provide evidence, so it can be corrected.

  1. (aimed at eliminating ‘subscription traps’ and dark patterns that make cancelling a subscription convoluted and more confusing/tedious than signing up for hte subscription ↩︎

  2. Aimed at Amazon, Google, Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, etc ↩︎

  3. Unfortunately an appeals court panel of Republican appointees just blocked this. (The Trump administration pick to head FCC is very anti Net Neutrality so this is unlikely to change ↩︎

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Of course they haven’t “done enough,” no administration cares about privacy, both parties have supported the worst ant-privacy legislation in the US. Granted one party, Democrats, might hypothetically be more susceptible to pro-privacy activism than Republicans, but let’s not be confused about it, neither care, at least according to their track records.

This is a weak and vapid attempt by Biden to again come across as progressive. If the administration cared then their actions the past four years would have been significantly different.

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Speaking just for the politicians, maybe, as the Democrats have people like Sen. Ron Wyden fighting for us, and I don’t think Republicans have anyone seriously caring about the issue on their side of the aisle. But overall privacy is a pretty nonpartisan issue. The real divide is the people vs the powers-that-be, which includes all of the government.

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No, for both parties. Wyden isn’t even a good example, as he could have spoken publicly about the NSA collecting data on millions of Americans before it came to light through Snowden risking everything, but he chose not to.

The records of both parties is clear. Both have, for example, supported both PATRIOT Acts, and Obama prosecuted more whistleblowers under the Espionage Acts than all previous presidents.

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You’re disagreeing with me agreeing with you :laughing:

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Partly, at least, yes, because I don’t totally agree with you, but you seem to think you do. IDK, what is supposed to be funny about that.

People shouldn’t be surprised about Andy Yen. He’s a very wealthy CEO of a successful business, bottom line is profit. Nonprofit status or not is basically meaning less, too. Heck, Ikea is a nonprofit.

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