Commerce Department Addresses the Intersection of Privacy, Equity, and Civil Rights

On November 30, 2021, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a branch of the Commerce Department, released a notice that they will hold three virtual Listening Sessions about “issues and potential solutions at the intersection of privacy, equity, and civil rights.”   

Specifically, these sessions will include the following:

• a report “on the ways in which commercial data flows of personal information can lead to disparate impact and outcomes for marginalized or disadvantaged communities”;

• “data brokers and secondary markets for data”;  

• “hiring, credit, lending, and housing algorithms and advertisements”; and

• “exploitation of data or commercially available software.

The purpose of these sessions is to discuss topics necessary for establishing a comprehensive and nationally applicable privacy legislation.

These meetings will be held on December 14, 15, and 16, 2021, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Eastern Standard Time. Online slide share and dial-in information is posted HERE.