The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced the convening of “three virtual Listening Sessions about issues and potential solutions at the intersection of privacy, equity, and civil rights. The sessions will help to provide the data for a report on the ways in which commercial data flows of personal information can lead to disparate impact and outcomes for marginalized or disadvantaged communities.”

As noted by Axios, “the White House hasn’t been particularly vocal on privacy thus far, although Biden’s competition executive order in July [July 9, 2021] encouraged the [FTC] to consider crafting privacy regulations.”  The Build Back Better Act (Subtitle N, Sec. 31501), which was approved last month by the U.S. House appropriates $500 million to the FTC “to create and operate a bureau, including by hiring technologists, user experience designers, and other experts, to accomplish its consumer protection work relating to privacy, data security, identity theft, data abuses, and related matters.”  The NTIA listening sessions will be Dec. 14-16 and will be held virtually, with online slide share and dial-in information to be posted at https://www.ntia.gov/.