In advance of a hearing on the Internet of Things (IoT), EPIC wrote to Congress on the need for privacy and security regulations for IoT consumer products. EPIC explained that regulation is necessary "because neither the manufacturers nor the owners of those devices have incentive to fix weak security." EPIC has called upon the Consumer Product Safety Commission to regulate IoT products, saying that the privacy and security of IoT devices, such as Internet-connected door locks and thermostats, are critical concerns for American consumers. Last week, EPIC testified before the Safety Commission on IoT hazards and promoted baseline standards to protect consumer safety. EPIC previously testified before Congress on the "Internet of Cars."
EPIC has filed a "friend of the court" brief, joined by forty-four technical experts and legal scholars (members of the EPIC Advisory Board), in the OPM Data Breach case. The case concerns the data breach at the US Office of Personnel and Management in 2015 that affected 22 million federal employees, their friends, and family members. In the brief to the federal appeals court, EPIC said that "when personal data is collected by a government agency, that agency has a constitutional obligation to protect the personal data it has obtained." In a 2011 case NASA v. Nelson, EPIC urged the Supreme Court to limit data collection by federal agencies, citing the growing risk of data breach in the federal government.
The Council of Europe has updated Convention 108, the first international treaty for privacy and data protection. Among other changes, the amending protocol requires prompt data breach notification, establishes national supervisory authorities to ensure compliance, permits transfers abroad only when personal data is sufficiently protected, and provides new user rights including algorithmic transparency. EPIC and consumer coalitions have urged the United States to ratify the International Privacy Convention. The complete text of the Privacy Convention is contained in the Privacy Law Sourcebook, available at the EPIC Bookstore.
