EPIC has submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission applauding the agency’s attention to cloud computing and urging the Commission to promote competition and strong data security practices among providers of web-based products and services.
Regarding competition, EPIC urged the FTC to investigate anticompetitive behavior amongst the dominant players supplying cloud computing services for AI offerings and to avoid unintentionally increasing market concentration through government policies and acquisitions. On data security, EPIC urged the Commission to emphasize the widespread agreement among providers about what constitutes best practice for data security in cloud computing, to facilitate clarification of how responsibility for implementing data security practices should be allocated between cloud-based service providers and their business customers, and to incentivize providers to align their conduct with the pillars of the White House’s National Cybersecurity Strategy, which includes expanding minimum cybersecurity requirements, promoting privacy and security of personal data, and shifting liability to promote secure development practices.
EPIC continues to call on lawmakers across the country to take up the cause of establishing comprehensive privacy protections and to limit harmful data practices and impose data minimization standards. This includes urging regulators to incentivize stronger industry data security practices and to mandate transparency for consumers when breaches do occur.