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The Insights Associations joined nearly 20 business groups asking for two more months to respond to a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) push for extremely broad new privacy rules that could rope in most aspects of the insights industry's work.

The organizations urged the FTC to "extend the deadline for filing comments on the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Trade Regulation Rule on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security," issued in August, with comments due in October.

The FTC defines “commercial surveillance” as “the business of collecting, analyzing, and profiting from information about people,” which sounds like a (negatively-tinged) description of the insights industry.

As the September 24, 2022 letter explained: "The ANPR seeks to develop a record to establish a rule that would fundamentally alter the modern economy. As such, the FTC should base the development of a proposed rule on the highest quality and most complete record possible. Specifically, we request a 60-day extension of the comment deadline from October 21, 2022 to December 20, 2022. Additional time would permit the undersigned organizations to understand and evaluate more thoroughly the voluminous number of questions and considerations put forth by the FTC. The ANPR seeks information, research, and experiential data about almost all aspects of the modern data-driven economy, and it does so through a procedure the FTC has rarely used for such an expansive and vaguely defined purpose. More time is required for all stakeholders, including the undersigned organizations, to provide the detailed comments and information that the FTC is requesting, including comments on the various economic impacts of a potential regulation, the multiple alternatives available to the FTC, and the significant (and potentially negative) downstream impacts of sweeping regulations on commercial data practices for consumers, businesses, and the American economy."

IA continues to coordinate with Privacy for America in our response to the FTC rulemaking. We look forward to any input from the insights industry that may help in our response.