FTC Chairman Simons Defends Privacy Shield Efforts

Chairman Joe Simons defended FTC Privacy Shield enforcement efforts, as officials from the U.S. and the EU discuss extending PS. The FTC is committed to maintaining “a robust mechanism for protecting privacy and enabling transatlantic data flows,” he said in Brussels Thursday. Since 2017, the FTC brought eight PS enforcement actions. He cited 39 actions under the U.S.-EU safe harbor, which predated the Privacy Shield, and four actions linked to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative’s Cross-Border Privacy Rules system. The Privacy Shield actions concerned entities falsely claiming program verification, failure to complete the verification process and failure to uphold program standards after leaving. The chairman cited the steady stream of press reports about privacy and data breaches, saying the agency is investigating Facebook and Equifax.