By Jeffrey Chester

The COVID-19 pandemic is a profound global public health crisis that requires our upmost attention: to stem its deadly tide and rebuild the global health system so we do not experience such a dire situation in the future. It also demands that we ensure the U.S. has a digital media system that is democratic, accountable, and one that both provides public services and protects privacy.

A new report on how political marketing insiders and platforms such as Facebook view the “ethical” issues raised by the role of digital marketing in elections illustrates why advocates and others concerned about election integrity should make this issue a public-policy priority. We cannot afford to leave it in the hands of “Politech” firms and political campaign professionals, who appear unable to acknowledge the consequences to democracy of their unfettered use of powerful data-driven online-marketing applications.

Working closely with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (epic.org) and US PIRG, CDD led a campaign to oppose the acquisition of Doubleclick by Google.  CDD opposed the deal on privacy, consumer protection and competiton grounds.  We all foresaw what would happen if Google was allowed to swallow a leading digital marketing giant--more data collect

Contact:

Jeff Chester, CDD (jeff@democraticmedia.org; 202-494-7100)

David Monahan, CCFC (david@commercialfreechildhood.org; 617-896-9397)

Advocates Who Filed the Privacy Complaint

Against Google/YouTube Laud Improvements, But Say

FTC Settlement Falls Far Short

FOR RELEASE

July 26, 2019

Consumer Privacy Organizations to Challenge Facebook Settlement

Statement from Groups

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“The Settlement Fails to Provide Meaningful Relief to Facebook Users”

WASHINGTON, DC – Many of the nation’s leading consumer privacy organizations are urging a federal court in Washington, DC to consider public comments before finalizing a proposed settlement between the Federal Trade Commission and Facebook.

For years, consumer and privacy advocates attempted to get the Federal Trade Commission to act responsibly when it came to ensuring that the digital giants treated the public fairly, including their privacy.  Since the mid-1990's, when I first started working to press the commission to be more responsive to the threats to autonomy and fairness triggered by the unrelenting and stealth gathering of all of our personal information (often working with EPIC), I was confronted by an agency which was so cautious, it blinded itself to the problems.  The agency has never been able to address the rol

CDD submits comments to The National Telecommunications and Information Administration On “Developing the Administration’s Approach to Consumer Privacy"

CDD argues that