Stephanie T. Nguyen

Senior Fellow @CntrLawEconomy. Former Chief Technologist @FTC.

[Stephanie T. Nguyen @stephtngu]

First piece: how states can use consumer protection laws to fight AI fraud, and why the FTC's 2024 Rytr case is a blueprint worth following: https://t.co/rDERvFn9fG ty @adamt2005

[Stephanie T. Nguyen @stephtngu]

Started a blog — The Division of Field Notes — to surface research that regulators, policymakers, and researchers can immediately use. Follow along here: https://t.co/EPgBP35WWq

[UCB Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice @UCBConsumerLaw]

'Bossware' Is Spying on Workers and Sharing Their Data
New research: 9 of 9 workplace monitoring apps studied shared workers’ names, emails, and company info with outside parties #databrokers, including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. Workers had no idea. #Bossware #Tattleware

[Center for Law and the Economy @CntrLawEconomy]

1. Your employer's time-tracking software may be doing more than tracking your time. A new study found it's also feeding your data to advertising platforms, big tech companies, and data brokers

It’s called “bossware” and all nine platforms we studied shared identifying worker information (names, emails, employer) with third parties. Across the sample, 9 of 9 platforms shared worker identifying information with outside parties, including major ad tech and social media companies.

The report calls on regulators and lawmakers to set clear limits on what workplace data can be collected, how long it can be retained, and who it can be shared with.

[The Verge @verge]

Meta and Google get data from the app your boss uses to track you https://t.co/8laEHqan4X

[Douglas Farrar @DouglasLFarrar]

A new study looked at nine "bossware" platforms, the apps your boss uses to monitor you at work. Every single one shared your personal data with third parties.

Names, emails, web history, sent to Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and others.

[Brian Shearer @brianJshearer]

If politicians want to deliver on their affordability promises, they'll need to actually drop prices in a few markets. In a paper out today and covered by the AP, I propose they take up property insurance, where prices are $150 billion too high. A thread.
https://t.co/vhhGnXcW09

[Center for Law and the Economy @CntrLawEconomy]

1. Last week, a jury found that Live Nation and Ticketmaster illegally monopolized the live music industry after the Trump DOJ had agreed to a paltry settlement. For @NYTOpinion, Lina Khan and Doha Mekki share how everyday Americans and state enforcers are delivering justice and holding powerful corporations accountable.

[Center for Law and the Economy @CntrLawEconomy]

And we’re live! Keep an eye on this account for updates on the Center for Law and the Economy’s research, events, and student programming.

[Lina Khan @linamkhan]

1. Excited to be launching the Center for Law and the Economy @ColumbiaLaw with @LevMenand. The Center will focus on pressing questions of economic governance and help train the next generation of scholars and policy leaders.

https://t.co/wpc6RwjaJK

[David Hundeyin @DavidHundeyin]

This actually isn't the worst I've seen. I read last year about an app used to assign shifts to nurses and other healthcare professionals, which draws their credit score data from Experian, and then uses that to calculate how much to offer per shift.

Essentially, the lower the credit score, the more desperate to make money the nurse is deemed, and the lower the pay they are offered. I mean it is one thing to do this gamified capitalism bullshit to delivery drivers and Ubers, but it is another thing entirely to turn payment for lifesaving healthcare professionals into the Hunger Games.

And once I understood that capitalism has no safety rails and no adults in the room, and the animating philosophy of the rich white men behind it has not changed one single bit since they used to farm free labour and call human beings "property", I abandoned the idea of negotiating with it or reforming it.

It really is just a stupid system invented by white men who would happily turn off the sun if doing so would boost their Q3 EBITDA 15%.

[Katie Van Dyck @CapitolKVD]

When people promote PE firms buying college football teams, this is the downside. It’s stripping team employees of benefits, downsizing stadiums, making game day a “luxury” product, and squeezing every dollar possible from their university partners.

[Zohran Kwame Mamdani @ZohranKMamdani]

Welcome to A New Era, Samuel Levine!

Sam led the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, where he went after predatory for-profit colleges, illegal foreclosures, and unfair business practices across privacy, data security, and financial services. Sam calls Manhattan home and is joining us as Commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection  to protect New Yorkers from corporate abuse and fight for consumer justice.

[Alvaro Bedoya @BedoyaUSA]

Sam is a force. He is the guy you want in your corner when your corporate landlord tries to pack your rent with fake charges. He's the guy you want when a company tries to nickel and dime you. The Mayor's message is loud and clear: You better treat New Yorkers right.

[Stephanie T. Nguyen @stephtngu]

Exciting news! @saalevine led the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection securing key actions including the first ban on an automaker sharing driver data, bright-line limits on browsing data sharing, and orders requiring deletion of algorithmic work product: https://t.co/Q3WMXrIYJm

[Lina Khan @linamkhan]

Thrilled that Sam Levine will join @ZohranKMamdani’s administration as Commissioner of the Department of Consumer & Worker Protection.

While leading our consumer protection work @FTC, Sam took on predatory tactics by corporate landlords, fraudsters that squeezed workers and small businesses, and illegal subscription traps and junk fees.

@saalevine is an extraordinary public servant who will enforce the law without fear or favor, ensuring that consumers and workers across NYC get a fair shake.

[Rohit Chopra @ChopraUSA]

DOGE set a goal of saving $2 trillion. This was cut to $1 trillion, and then $150 billion. It didn't even achieve that.

Instead of focusing on efficiency, DOGE worked hard to shut off law enforcement, which benefited those that broke the law. https://t.co/nyQ9lq9p8R

[lindsayl 🇨🇦+ sahm of 2 @lindsaylsahm]

My latest explores how Airbnb provides homeshares a common pricing algorithm, called “Smart Pricing,” that serves to coordinate pricing of rental units on its platform. Airbnb appears to be coercing homesharers into adoption of its pricing tool, including by withholding access to consumers through search page rankings. If so, both Airbnb and participating homesharers may be exposed to antitrust liability. 1/

[Matt Stoller @matthewstoller]

Now we've finally learned the real story behind Pepsi's greedflation episode during Covid - it was a market power problem, a scheme with Walmart to inflate prices and consolidate the grocery market. And Trump's FTC Chair tried to hide it. https://t.co/3NLaaCADLG

[John Mark Newman @johnmarknewman]

Great piece that all state AGs and plaintiffs' #antitrust attorneys should read. This often-overlooked point especially jumps out: it doesn't matter whether rivals agree to charge a publicly available price or a secret private one. Agreeing to collude is agreeing to collude.

[Seth Frotman @sethfrotman]

We can talk all day about abundance and populism, but none of that will matter until Americans believe that democracy, law, and government are worth fighting for.

There is no solving the crisis of democracy, without prioritizing the crisis of enforcement.