Big tech hoped to dodge an immediate crackdown under President Joe Biden's administration as regulation slips on his list of priorities. A stricter rule was left out from executive orders he signed on his first day in the office.
Advocate and consumer groups want Biden to ban facial recognition technology
Turkish Parliament Passes Law Regulating Social Media Content ISTANBUL, TURKEY - JULY 29: In this photo illustration, social media apps are seen on a mobile phone on July 29, 2020 in Istanbul, Turkey. Turkey's parliament passed a new law Wednesday, to regulate social media content. The law will require foreign social media companies to have an appointed Turkish-based representative to deal with any concerns authorities have over content.
As Biden was sworn in as President of the United States, digital rights groups called on legislators and on him to curb tech forms' power and protect consumers' online privacy. Advocacy groups urged Biden to ban facial recognition technology, which critics say can keep discriminatory policing not appointing people with extensive ties to big tech firms to Biden's administration.
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An advocate with consumer group Public Citizen, Jane Chung, said on Wednesday that they are looking forward to the chance president-elect has to lead the way to protect the privacy and bring tech companies abusing privacy practices to account. Chang added that people need regulators to protect consumers, workers, and communities of color against predatory surveillance and privacy malpractice.
According to Al Jazeera via MSN, amid data breaches and public discomfort on how data is being collected and used, privacy concerns increase. The U.S. regulators imposed hefty fines on Google Inc's' YouTube and Facebook Inc for privacy violations.
Public Citizen and ten other U.S.-based digital rights and racial justice groups want Biden's administration to build an independent Data Protection authority and back a federal privacy law in Biden's first 100 days in office. In 2019, both Democratic and Republican legislators proposed legislation that will protect consumers and ensure that companies gather the minimum amount of personal data their company needs.
Meanwhile, in 2018, California State enacted a sweeping privacy law seen as a potential federal framework model. Biden's Chief of Staff Bruce Reed has helped negotiate with the big tech and legislator at the time.
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How to get away from Big Tech?
The recent ban of Parler from Apple and Amazon shutdown of the social media app would make people wonder about Big Tech's power. Adding the news that Whatsapp, a messaging service app owned by Facebook, garners more of users' personal data.
Komando shows how much data Whatsapp is sending to Facebook. Many users have flocked to alternate messaging apps such as Telegram and Signal. These options could replace some of the most used services and platforms. Today, smartphones are the most used pieces of consumer technology, as per USA Today via MSN.
