Joint Center Signs Letter to FTC to ‘Firmly Protect Civil Rights’

The Joint Center joined 40 organizations in sending a letter to the Federal Trade Commission to “emphasize the importance of developing specific, concrete civil rights protections in the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) ongoing Commercial Surveillance and Data Security Rulemaking.”

In the letter, the signatories share that “proposed rules must clearly prohibit discrimination as an unfair trade practice.” The proposed guidelines for the rules are: “[i]ssue a specific rule prohibiting discrimination as an unfair practice under the FTC Act” and “[i]ssue a specific rule requiring reasonable and appropriate measures to detect and address algorithmic discrimination in sensitive domains.”

Signatories include the American Civil Liberties Union, Demand Progress Education Fund, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Center, Inc., National Urban League, Upturn, and more.

Read the letter below, or here.