Democrat lawmakers push FTC to regulate VPN providers

Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Senator Ron Wyden wrote to the Federal Trade Commission urging them to look into the deceptive practices of the Virtual Private Network industry, The Verge reported. 

Last week, Eshoo (Democrat for California) and Wyden (Democrat for Oregon) wrote the letter just weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leading to people becoming concerned about hiding their digital footprint.

Also Read: Will Biden be able to declare abortion a public health emergency?

A VPN establishes an encrypted connection between a user’s device and a private server, thereby making it harder for others to find out and access someone’s online activity. Since abortion was made a state decision, concerns about online privacy have shot up. Even Silicon Valley, which considers itself largely immune to the machinations of Washington, is worried about being subpoenaed and being forced to hand over user data to law enforcement.

Eshoo and Wyden in their letter urged the FTC to look into the false advertising and deceptive assertions made by VPN providers about the range of their services. They quote a research paper from Consumer Reports, which indicates that 75% of the most popular VPN providers “misrepresented their products” or made claims that gave “abortion-seekers a false sense of security.” The two referred to reports that claim that there is “a lack of  practical tools or independent research to audit VPN providers’ security claims.”

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In their letter, the two state that since abortion is illegal or will soon become illegal in 13 states, the “abusive and exploitative data practices” of VPN providers is “unacceptable.” Eshoo and Wyden urged the FTC to take action and “curtail abusive and deceptive data practices” of VPN providers. 

Earlier this month the FTC reiterated that they would be taking action against companies that illegally share sensitive user data. Shortly after the Roe v. Wade ruling, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to protect patient privacy.