I didn’t cover it, but the EU recently passed legislation to require all smartphone manufacturers to stick to a universal charging standard – USB-C. Well, it might just happen here too. Three Senators have asked the Commerce Department to develop a strategy to require a standard charging port across all mobile devices.
The House also approved an additional $417 million for CISA.
The FTC recently reminded companies that principles of fairness and the likelihood of harm may, in some cases, prompt breach notification. This requirement might exist even if state breach notice laws have not been triggered. The FTC emphasized at the same time the need for breach disclosures to be accurate and noted that “Regardless of whether a breach notification law applies, a breached entity that fails to disclose information to help parties mitigate reasonably foreseeable harm may violate Section 5 of the FTC Act. “
And in stuff to come, there is a long list Congress is considering before the summer recess. Pulling from Axios:
The United States Innovation and Competition Act, designed to strengthen the U.S. chip industry, was initially thought of as an easy win for both parties to boost American tech competitiveness.
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act: The most likely to pass this Congress’ spate of tech antitrust bills would significantly change how giants like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Meta do business by not allowing them to preference their products.
The American Data Privacy and Protection Act: comprehensive personal data privacy.
And they are filling the Federal Communications Commission’s empty seat. Democratic FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel’s agenda is stymied without the confirmation of Gigi Sohn as a Democratic commissioner.
One did pass the Senate already – the State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act. This one helps boost anti-trust action by allowing state attorneys general to push within their own systems rather than face moving to faraway federal courts.
Why do we care?
Europe continues to lead – from privacy laws to charging standards. We’ve gone from no action to a lot in the US, and we’ll see how much gets done before the summer recess. Right now, I’m banking on it being rather significant – even if half of this gets done, it’s enough to impact IT services organizations.