NTIA Releases Request For Comment Regarding Data Privacy, Equity, And Civil Rights

On January 18, 2023, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released a Privacy, Equity, and Civil Rights Request for Comment (RFC), which is "intended to examine the persistence of discriminatory disparities in the digital economy, and the extent to which the collection, processing, sharing, and use of data can lead to higher risks for some communities, exacerbate structural inequities, or contribute to their erosion." This RFC follows a series of listening sessions on the same topics that the agency conducted at the beginning of 2022, and NTIA has explained that data gathered through the listening sessions and the RFC will be used to inform "a report on whether and how commercial data practices can lead to disparate impacts for marginalized or disadvantaged communities."