Journal Article

PRIVACY FOR SALE: HOW THE FTC CAN TAKE PRECISE LOCATION DATA OFF THE MARKET

Hanus, Andrea

2024

Overview

The Federal Trade Commission's (\"FTC's\") ability to protect consumers amidst the growing number of privacy invasions is at a crossroads. As consumer data is increasingly collected and commercialized, the question becomes whether the FTC's Section 5 enforcement authority is up to the challenge. A recent FTC complaint shed light on how the familiar issue of properly def ning privacy harms impedes agency and lawmakers ' abilities to protect consumers from privacy violations. And yet, the growing threat against personal autonomy and medical privacy has made the need for such protections more evident than ever. This Note will conceptualize the privacy harms caused by the sale of location data and argue that those harms are well within the FTC's Section 5 unfairness enforcement authority. It will conceptualize and defne the privacy harms caused by the sale of location data by presenting examples of recent events in which data sales resulted in real-world harm. These harms will then be connected to precedent in various legal doctrines and FTC enforcement actions to argue that recognition of these less traditional harms is not really novel at all. All of which bolsters the claim that it is within the FTC's authority to enforce against these less traditional, but no less important, privacy harms. Arguably most importantly of all, this Note will suggest that an expanded def nition of harm for FTC enforcement will not only protect consumers from sale of their location data, but will also protect against a much broader spectrum of privacy violations.

• Publisher: Boston University School of Law
• Subject: Consent decrees / Consumer protection / Consumers / Data collection / Enforcement / Injuries / Privacy / Sales / Violations