In the USA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) issued the third of a three-part series on securing the software supply chain – Securing Software Supply Chain Series – Recommended Practices Guide for Customers. This publication follows the previously published guides for developers and suppliers. The guide includes recommended practices for software customers to guarantee their purchased software’s integrity and security.
Consumer protection
US Federal Communication Commission required easy-to-understand labels for broadband providers
On 17 November 2022, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) released an order requiring broadband providers to display easy-to-understand labels allowing consumers to do comparison shopping for broadband services. The providers must show labels with crucial information, including prices, speeds, and data allowances.
Informing Consumers about Smart Devices Act introduced in US Senate
An Informing Consumers about Smart Devices Act was presented in the US Senate. According to the bill, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will create a disclosure guideline for products with audio or visual recording components, such as refrigerators, washers, dryers, and dishwashers. The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives last summer.
UK Government to bring forward the Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumer Bill
In the Autumn Statement 2022, UK Government announced the introduction of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer bill in the third Parliamentary session. The bill follows several consultations in recent years.
The bill will provide powers to the Digital Markets Unit (DMU), change the competition framework, and protect consumers against ‘subscription traps’ and fake reviews online.
Digital Services Act came into force
On 16 November 2022, the Digital Services Act (DSA) came into force. The DSA applies to digital services connecting consumers to goods, services, or content. Online platforms will have until 17 February 2023 to report the number of active end users.
The European Commission suggests all online platforms notify it regarding these numbers. Then, the Commission will determine if the platform is a large online platform or a search engine. Following this determination, the platform will have four months to comply with the DSA. EU members will have until 17 February 2024 to accredit their Digital Services Coordinators.
Google to pay record-breaking privacy settlement for location tracking
In the USA, Google will pay the biggest privacy settlement of US$391.5 million, following 40 states’ investigations of the company’s misleading location tracking practices between 2014 and 2020. According to the investigations, the users thought that they had disabled location tracking in their account settings, while Google still collected user location data through its other apps. In addition to paying the settlement sum, Google also agreed to provide more detailed information about location tracking, including what kind of data is still collected when location tracking is turned off for some settings, but not others. Moreover, it shall inform the users how to disable location tracking, erase data collected in the settings, and set data retention limits.
Australia’s three largest internet service providers fined for false statements about broadband speed
The Australian Federal Court fined Telstra Corporation Ltd (Telstra), Optus Internet Pty Limited (Optus), and TPG Internet Pty Ltd (TPG) a total of AUD$33.5 million for making false or misleading representations to consumers about certain internet plans under Australia’s national broadband network (NBN).
The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) headed the procedure. The court concluded the internet service providers breached the Australian Consumer Law by making false or misleading statements related to their 50Mbps or 100Mbps fibre to the node (FTTN) plans.
Telstra, Optus, and TPG admitted their false conduct to consumers and collaborated with the ACCC, making joint submissions to the court. The false or misleading statements affected about 120,000 consumers in 2019 and 2020.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission releases new report about competition and consumer laws for digital platforms
On 11 November 2022, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) published the fifth report of its Digital Platform Services Inquiry.
Regarding consumer issues, the report recommends the submission of digital platforms to mandatory dispute resolution processes and more substantial requirements to fight against scams, harmful apps, and fake reviews, among others. There is also a recommendation for new laws that would require digital platforms to, among other issues, provide processes for reporting scams, harmful apps, and fake reviews, publish review verification processes, and ensure that consumers and small businesses can access appropriate dispute resolution.
The report also proposes mandatory codes of conduct for some digital platforms and services to address competition issues. Besides the consumer and competition recommendations, the report further highlights the ACCC’s support for prohibiting economy-wide unfair trading practices.
Online Choice Architecture: How digital design can harm competition and consumers
Online choice architecture (OCA) describes the environment in which people act, including the presentation and placement of choices and the design of interfaces.
Published by UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) the discussion paper titled Online Choice Architecture: how digital design can harm competition and consumers provides an overview of OCA and its links with related concepts like ‘dark patterns’, the types of OCA practice that are prevalent, a taxonomy for OCA practices, and potential harms for consumers. The paper is illustrated by case studies of investigations conducted by CMA and others.