At a glance.
- FTC sues data broker.
- The EU opens a "Tech Embassy" in Silicon Valley.
- Industry perspective on cybersecurity and US Federal acquisition policy.
- US will restrict export of chips to China and Russia.
FTC sues data broker.
The US Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Idaho-based data broker Kochava for allegedly "selling geolocation data from hundreds of millions of mobile devices that can be used to trace the movements of individuals to and from sensitive locations." The FTC stated, "Kochava’s data can reveal people’s visits to reproductive health clinics, places of worship, homeless and domestic violence shelters, and addiction recovery facilities. The FTC alleges that by selling data tracking people, Kochava is enabling others to identify individuals and exposing them to threats of stigma, stalking, discrimination, job loss, and even physical violence. The FTC’s lawsuit seeks to halt Kochava’s sale of sensitive geolocation data and require the company to delete the sensitive geolocation information it has collected."
According to TechCrunch, Kochava said in response: "This lawsuit shows the unfortunate reality that the FTC has a fundamental misunderstanding of Kochava’s data marketplace business and other data businesses. Kochava operates consistently and proactively in compliance with all rules and laws, including those specific to privacy. Prior to the legal proceedings, Kochava took the proactive step of announcing a new capability to block geo data from sensitive locations via Privacy Block, effectively removing that data from the data marketplace, and is currently in the implementation process of adding that functionality."
The EU opens a "Tech Embassy" in Silicon Valley.
Snell & Wilmer reports that the European Union today opened a liaison office in Silicon Valley, in order to help tech companies comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA). Snell & Wilmer notes, "The DMA and DSA will transform the regulation of digital markets in the EU, and carry significant compliance risks in light of their global reach, broad scope, and the severe penalties for violations. The new legislation also raises significant data privacy and security concerns due to, most notably, the DMA’s platform interoperability and data portability requirements."
US will restrict export of chips to China and Russia.
The US has implemented new restrictions on the sale of high-end GPUs to China and Russia, the New York Times reports. The chips in question developed by Nvidia and AMD, and are used for advanced AI processing. Protocol quotes the US Commerce Department as saying, “While we are not in a position to outline specific policy changes at this time, we are taking a comprehensive approach to implement additional actions necessary related to technologies, end-uses, and end-users to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. This includes preventing China’s acquisition and use of U.S. technology in the context of its military-civil fusion program to fuel its military modernization efforts, conduct human rights abuses, and enable other malign activities.”
Industry perspective on cybersecurity and US Federal acquisition policy.
Ken Walker, President and CEO at Owl Cyber Defense, outlines in an article for Meritalk that the effect of the recently passed Supply Chain Security Training Act (SCSTA) in the US. Walker states, “SCSTA directs the General Services Administration (GSA) to develop a training program for federal employees that will help them identify and reduce agencies’ supply chain risks. Extending security responsibilities in this way is practical and necessary to widen the resource pool for tackling cyber risks, particularly given the shortage of people with hard technical skills who are battling supply chain threats.”