Topics for FTC PrivacyCon 2022 include commercial surveillance, automated decision-making

The FTC’s seventh annual PrivacyCon is scheduled for November 1, 2022. It’s not the upcoming Bonnaroo festival, and it won’t be headlining Stevie Nicks, J. Cole, Herbie Hancock, and Robert Plant. But then again, how much can you learn about the latest privacy- and security-related trends and research from “Landslide”? Follow the Business Blog for updates about the agenda for the November 1st virtual event. And keep in mind another important date that’s just seven weeks away.

As part of PrivacyCon 2022, the FTC has issued a Call for Presentations, seeking relevant empirical research and demonstrations, including rigorous economic analyses. The deadline for submissions is July 29, 2022. Read the Call for Presentations for details about the selection criteria and review process. Here are some of the subjects the FTC has a particular interest in:

• Algorithmic bias and ensuring fairness in the use of algorithms;
• Commercial surveillance, including workplace monitoring, surveillance advertising, and biometric surveillance;
• Potential new remedies and approaches to improve privacy and security practices – for example, the deletion of algorithms or other products developed using data illegally collected from consumers; and
• Children’s and teen’s privacy risks, harms, and vulnerabilities, particularly those presented by emerging technologies.

Moderated by FTC staff, PrivacyCon 2022 promises to bring together panels of researchers, academics, industry representatives, consumer advocates, and law enforcers to discuss the most recent research. The event is open to the public and will be webcast from a link that will go live on the morning of November 1st.

On second thought, “The landslide brought me down” is a pretty good description of the injury to consumers that companies inflict through questionable privacy and data security practices. So maybe we’ve underestimated Ms. Nicks’ insights into the subject.

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