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  • Data Governance for Young People in the Commercialized Digital Environment

    By: Kathryn C. Montgomery, Jeff Chester, and Katharina Kopp | Sep 10 2020

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    Sub-title

    A report for UNICEF's Global Governance of Children's Data Project

    TikTok (also known by its Chinese name, Dǒuyīn) has quickly captured the interest of children, adolescents, and young adults in 150 countries around the world. The mobile app enables users to create short video clips, customize them with a panoply of user-friendly special effects tools, and then share them widely through the platform’s vast social network.

    Authors

    Kathryn C. Montgomery, Jeff Chester, and Katharina Kopp
    Read more
  • Leading child advocacy, health, and privacy groups call on FTC to Investigate Children’s Digital Media Marketplace Before Proposing any Changes to Privacy Protections for Children

    By: Jeff Chester | Dec 5 2019

    Sub-title

    Threats to young people from digital marketing and data collection must be analyzed to ensure meaningful safeguards under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

    EMBARGOED UNTIL DECEMBER 5, 2019 AT 12:01 AM

    Contact:

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

    Josh Golin, CCFC, josh@commercialfreechildhood.org; 617-896-9369

    Leading child advocacy, health, and privacy groups call on FTC to Investigate Children’s Digital Media Marketplace Before Proposing any Changes to Privacy Protections for Children

    Authors

    Jeff Chester
    Read more
  • CDD, EPIC, USPIRG Opposition to Google/Doubleclick "Big Data" Merger

    By: Jeff Chester | Sep 11 2019

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    Sub-title

    2007 FTC filings example of groups calling for antitrust, privacy and other safeguards for digital marketplace

    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

    Authors

    Jeff Chester
    Read more
  • The FTC’s Google/YouTube decision on children's privacy & digital marketing brings new safeguards, opportunities—and questions

    By: Jeff Chester | Sep 11 2019

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    Sub-title

    Key new COPPA related policies won as groups vow to hold Google, marketers, FTC accountable

    I played a key role helping get the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) passed by Congress in 1998 (when I was executive director of the Center for Media Education). Since then, I have tried to ensure that the country’s only federal law addressing commercial privacy online was taken seriously.

    Authors

    Jeff Chester
    Read more
  • Groups Join Legal Battle to Fight Ineffective FTC Privacy Decision on Facebook

    By: Jeff Chester | Jul 26 2019

    Sub-title

    Statements from Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood, CDD, Color of Change, Common Sense Media, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Open Markets, Public Citizen, USPIRG

    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.

    Authors

    Jeff Chester
    Read more
  • FTC Must Effectively Penalize Google for Violating COPPA Privacy law

    By: Jeff Chester | Jul 8 2019

    Sub-title

    Concern that FTC actions will not protect privacy for children on Google platforms; Digital ad giant must be held accountable

    Letter sent on June 3 2019 to Chairman Simons and FTC Commissioners in response to a call made by the Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood and CDD, represented by our attorneys from the Institute for Public Representation (IPR), Georgetown University Law Center with the commission.

    Authors

    Jeff Chester
    Read more
  • Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, Google, the GDPR and Digital Marketers: Will Big Brands and Advertisers Pull the Plug that has Erased Privacy?

    By: Jeff Chester | Mar 30 2018

    A digital “great awakening” has occurred with unprecedented global attention given to the commercial surveillance business model at the core of our collective digital experience.

    Read more
  • AT&T, Comcast & Verizon Expand “Big Data” Tracking & Targeting of Consumers

    By: Jeff Chester | Mar 8 2018


    Read more
  • Statement of Jeff Chester on plans by FCC to review 3-hour Children’s Educational TV Programming Rule

    By: Jeff Chester | Feb 13 2018

    Broadcasters want to kill one of their only few public interest obligations:  to air at least 3 hours of educational children’s programming a week.  The FCC is engaged in another outrageous form of digital highway robbery—to steal from kids in order to allow TV giants to make even more profits from shows filled with commercials.   Broadcasters now earn billions of dollars from their free public license to transit television—including getting access to invaluable cable TV channels.  They are supposed to serve as  a “Trustee” of the airwaves—not video programming bandits.
    Authors

    Jeff Chester
    Read more
  • The Role of Digital Marketing in Political Campaigns

    By: Jeff Chester | Jan 20 2018

    Computational politics—the application of digital targeted-marketing technologies to election campaigns in the US and elsewhere—are now raising the same concerns for democratic discourse and governance that they have long raised for consumer privacy and welfare in the commercial marketplace. This paper examines the digital strategies and technologies of today’s political operations, explaining how they were employed during the most recent US election cycle, and exploring the implications of their continued use in the civic context.

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    Read more
  • Death of Net Neutrality Will Spur Greater Loss of Digital Privacy, Further Content Consolidation & Control

    By: Jeff Chester | Dec 15 2017

    Sub-title

    Statement of Jeff Chester, CDD

    Authors

    Jeff Chester
    Read more
  • “Smartwatches” For Parents to Monitor Young Children Actually Pose a Danger to Kids’ Welfare—Report

    By: Jeff Chester | Oct 18 2017

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    Sub-title

    Groups call for investigation and action by U.S. and EU Regulators, including FTC

    WASHINGTON, DC – October 18, 2017—A number of brands of “smartwatches” intended to help parents monitor and protect young children have major security and privacy flaws which could endanger the children wearing them. A coalition of leading U.S. child advocacy, consumer, and privacy groups sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today, asking the agency to investigate the threat these watches pose to children.

    Authors

    Jeff Chester
    Read more
  • Political Scholars, NGOs Call on Facebook, Digital Industry to Support Rules for Political Campaigns

    By: Jeff Chester | Sep 23 2017

    Released on September 22, 2017 at a political microtargeting conference held in Amsterdam, in response to the recent announcement by Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg on changes to how they conduct political ad campaigns.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      


    Dear Mark,

    Authors

    Jeff Chester
    Read more
  • Big Data, Digital Marketing and the Equifax Data Breach

    By: Jeff Chester | Sep 13 2017

    “Marketers. Ready, aim, engage! It is easier than ever to hit the right marketing targets,” explains Equifax about its far-reaching data capabilities that capture, analyze, and sell our information. Equifax’s admission last week about its loss of personal information on 143 million Americans—including Social Security and drivers license numbers—is also a wake-up call about the dramatic loss of our privacy in the digital era.

    Read more
  • Health Wearable Devices Pose New Consumer and Privacy Risks

    By: Kathryn Montgomery, Jeff Chester, Katharina Kopp | Aug 29 2017


    Read more
  • U.S. Privacy Dealt Major Set-back as Broadband Protections are Overturned by Congress and President Trump

    By: Jeff Chester | Apr 3 2017

    President Trump has killed the first real protections for commercial privacy that Americans have online. Phone and cable giants, allied with the GOP Congressional majority, have just voted to overturn the historic consumer-data safeguards adopted last year by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). AT&T, Comcast, Verizon—the country’s dominant providers of high speed broadband—along with industry and Congressional GOP allies, intensely opposed the new FCC rule. Why?

    Read more
  • Americans Lose Privacy Rights in Senate Vote

    By: Jeff Chester | Mar 23 2017

    Americans lost a crucial right today as the GOP-controlled Senate voted to overturn the only federal protection that could have protected their privacy online. This is a key victory for lobbyists from the ISP monopolies, such as AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon. These companies have built a “Big Data" business model to track—and profit from—our every move online. Today, Americans who use personal computers, mobile phones and other online devices are the victims of continuous monitoring of their digital activities.

    Read more
  • With Departure of Consumer Bureau Director Jessica Rich, Future of FTC’s Commitment to Protect the Public Now Uncertain

    By: Jeff Chester | Feb 8 2017

    Statement of Jeff Chester, Executive Director
    Center for Digital Democracy
    February 7, 2017

    Read more
  • The EU Must Ensure Data Protection & Digital Marketing Safeguards for both Children & Adolescents (and that includes you too, UK!)

    By: Jeff Chester | Feb 1 2017

    This blog entry by Jeff Chester originally appeared on the Media Policy Blog of the London School of Economics and Political Science here.

    Read more
  • Statement on Edith Ramirez resignation

    By: Jeff Chester | Jan 14 2017

    Edith Ramirez brought the FTC into the 21st century. Under her leadership, the agency made it clear that new technologies had to treat consumers fairly, including when it came to protecting their privacy. Through enforcement, litigation, and publicly exposing new threats, Edith Ramirez’s commission has created a unique consumer protection legacy that will have a long-lasting and positive impact. Ramirez’s tenure has also been marked by a strong commitment to protecting economically vulnerable and other at-risk consumers, including those who reflect the country’s diversity.

    Read more

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The Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) is recognized as one of the leading digital rights, consumer protection, and privacy organizations in the United States. For nearly two decades, CDD has been at the forefront of research, public education, and advocacy on behalf of citizens, consumers, communities, and youth.

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