The FTC is investigating new data privacy rules to regulate the tech industry.

The US Federal Trade Commission today kick off An effort to test whether new regulations should be implemented to regulate the technology industry.

As part of the initiative, the FTC has Released A document known as an Advance Notice, or ANPR for short. ANPR invites members of the public to comment on how the agency can take new steps to regulate the technology sector. According to the document, the FTC’s initiative covers multiple market segments and technologies.

The ANPR contains dozens of questions covering topics such as data collection, algorithmic bias, commercial surveillance and cyber security. Some questions are technical in nature, focusing on the details of what are the best ways to measure algorithmic errors. Other parts of the document ask members of the public to comment on how the FTC should go about implementing new regulatory rules.

“The growing digitization of our economy—combined with the endless collection of sensitive user data and business models that encourage the proliferation of how that data is used—means that potentially illegal practices can proliferate,” said FTC Chairwoman Lina Kahn. . “Our goal today is to begin building a strong public record that the FTC should issue rules to address business surveillance and data security practices, and what those rules should look like.”

One reason the FTC believes existing regulations may not be sufficient to regulate the technology sector relates to the way regulatory penalties are imposed. “The agency generally does not have the authority to seek monetary penalties for violations of the FTC Act,” the FTC said today.

“Conversely, laws that establish clear across-the-board privacy and data security standards and give the Commission the power to seek fines for first-time violations could encourage all companies to continually invest in compliance practices,” the agency added.

The FTC’s ANPR, which outlines the regulatory requests the agency plans to investigate, is set to be published in the Federal Register in a few days. From there, members of the public will have 60 days to comment on the initiative.

The development is one month after the European Parliament approved Two laws that increase regulation of the technology sector. The first law, the Digital Services Law, creates new rules for digital service providers such as social media companies and e-commerce marketplace operators. It was passed along with the Digital Markets Act, which includes regulations specifically targeting major technology companies.

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