Ftc bureau of consumer protection

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline Amid growing global concern over the social media platform, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday, where U.S. lawmakers are expected to question Chew over safety concerns for minors and preventing U.S. user data from foreign access. Key Facts In Chew’s first appearance before Congress, he’s expected to discuss the company’s privacy and data security practices, as well as the company’s relationship with the Chinese government, which has come under increased scrutiny in recent months. Prepared Remarks Chair Rodgers, Ranking Member Pallone, and Members of the Committee: Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to talk about TikTok and our mission to inspire creativity and bring joy to more than 1 billion people worldwide. I look forward to discussing what makes TikTok so special to the diverse audiences it serves, as well as our … [Read more...] about TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s Prepared Comments Before Congress

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin By Duane Tursi, CEO, Ascension Group International . How can business leaders determine whether a particular growth strategy is applicable to a business’s specific situation? First and foremost, timing is everything. It might feel like it’s always the right moment to take your company to the next level, but knowing when to expand is just as critical as knowing where to start. During times of financial uncertainty, many companies focus on their core competencies and forget that there are still opportunities for development. The quality of businesses today is strong, and organizations of all sizes have healthy balance sheets despite a looming recession. To continue this upward trend, let’s take a look at some key strategies for growth in 2023. Never Waste A Recession You might look at that header and scratch your head, but here’s the thing: Recessions are not all negative. Companies make layoffs, and … [Read more...] about Strategies For Growth In 2023

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Income tax rate reduction and flattening, along with the expansion of school choice, are among the most consequential policy trends of the early 2020s. However, there is another policy trend emerging that, like income tax relief and greater educational choice, is making states more attractive to workers and employers. That trend is the push by policymakers to remove or mitigate the barriers to employment that state occupational licensing requirements have become. On Tuesday, March 21, Florida legislators will hold a hearing on Senate Bill 1364, legislation to recognize out-of-state occupational licenses held by new residents so that they can get to work and begin earning income in their new home state right away. If this reform, known as Universal License Recognition (ULR), is passed by legislators in Tallahassee and signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis (R) this spring, Florida would become state number 22 to enact ULR. … [Read more...] about Barriers To Employment Fall With The Rise Of Out-Of-State Occupational License Recognition

A new report by state regulators found hydraulic fracturing likely did not cause problems with drinking water in Pavillion, Wy. The multi-year investigation by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) found the “Evidence does not indicate that hydraulic fracturing fluids have risen to shallow depths utilized by water-supply wells.” “Also, based on an evaluation of hydraulic fracturing history, and methods used in the Pavillion Gas Field, it is unlikely that hydraulic fracturing has caused any impacts to the water-supply wells,” WDEQ investigators reported Thursday. Complaints of a bad taste and odor in the water by Pavillion residents has been used by environmentalists as evidence fracking posed a danger to drinking water across the country. Fracking involves injecting water, sand and some chemicals deep underground to break open shale to extract oil and natural gas. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state regulators began investigating Pavillion’s … [Read more...] about There’s No Evidence Fracking Poisoned Drinking Water In Town Featured In ‘Gasland’ Films

Wyoming regulators have found hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, did not likely contaminate water supplies in the town of Pavillion four years after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted its own botched investigation. State officials published findings Monday showing groundwater contamination near Pavillion was not likely caused by fracking , but instead by gas that naturally seeped into groundwater wells. The state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) says the “[e]vidence suggests that upward gas seepage… was happening naturally before gas well development.” “It is unlikely that hydraulic fracturing fluids have risen to shallower depths intercepted by water- supply wells,” DEQ writes in its 30-month investigation of Pavillion’s water. “Evidence does not indicate that hydraulic fracturing fluids have risen to shallow depths intersected by water-supply wells.” “The likelihood that the hydraulic fracture well stimulation treatments… employed in the … [Read more...] about Wyoming Officials Prove Fracking Didn’t Poison Drinking Water — Four Years After EPA’s Botched Investigation

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The electric car revolution in Europe requires a swift change of gear if it is to move from a well-heeled, early-adopters' niche to the mass market. European manufacturers still haven’t got the memo; small is beautiful. If this fails, the ramifications will be political as well as economic. Consumers will have to accept that electric cars, even expensive ones, have serious range limitations. Long trips with the family to southern Spain or Italy for the summer holidays using fast motorways are no problems for an internal combustion engine (ICE). But range anxiety from fast-but-legal motorway driving and poor charging facilities present big hurdles for electric vehicles. Given that 90% of motoring is never much more than 30 miles a day anyway, everyday use won't be much of a problem. You can always hire a diesel for those annual trips to the sun or weekend jaunts. Or take the train. Current electric technology produces, … [Read more...] about Troubles Loom If Europeans Are Denied Cheap Electric Cars

I’d only been CEO of IBM for a year and a half when something happens that would change the nature of the global tech industry. In June 2013, an intelligence contractor named Edward Snowden leaks classified government documents to the Washington Post and the Guardian newspapers. The documents state that the U.S. government has been collecting data from several tech companies to track people potentially connected to terrorism. The surveillance program, called PRISM, conducts broad sweeps of internet traffic, making it possible for the private communications of American citizens to be collected and possibly viewed without a court order, amounting to warrantless surveillance. When I first hear the news about PRISM, I’m surprised but not worried. IBM has no connection to it, and we aren’t among the companies named in the leaked documents. This isn’t my problem, I think. Then the phone starts ringing. Foreign governments are calling. They’re asking about their data on … [Read more...] about How IBM responded to the Snowden revelations with ‘good power’

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The Swiss government has approved Zurich's plan to launch a trial program for the consumption and sale of cannabis, expected to start this summer. Switzerland is expanding its pilot scheme on cannabis legalization to study the effects of legalization on the population. The pilot program aims to provide a clearer picture of the impact of cannabis legalization in the country. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), Switzerland's federal government's center for public health, approved on Tuesday, March 21, the Züri Can - Cannabis with Responsibility , a project designed by the collaboration between the Zurich city council and the Zurich University Hospital, which aims to study the impact of regulated cannabis supply on the consumption and health of consumers. The study investigates how the consumption and health of participants are affected by purchasing selected cannabis products from controlled cultivation … [Read more...] about Zurich Set To Legalize Cannabis In Swiss Trial Program

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The UK National Health Service (NHS) is the largest nationalized health service in the world, providing healthcare services to around 65 million people. This huge responsibility means that it is constantly exploring new technological solutions that will allow it to work more efficiently and improve patient outcomes. It also handles a huge amount of very sensitive data. Traditionally, this data – consisting of personal health records, clinical data, and public data – has been stored in separate systems spread across hundreds of healthcare and hospital trusts. Its aim is to implement what is known as the NHS Federated Data Platform - to bring all of this information together into a single source where it can be used to improve decision-making and patient outcomes. Inevitably, this will bring many challenges. Healthcare data is some of the most sensitive data that there is, and the task of keeping it secure while still … [Read more...] about Building The World’s Largest Healthcare Data Platform

A U.S. ban on the world’s most popular social media app would affect far more American businesses and people than just the 150 million using the platform here. C asey Evertsen drove down a suburban Utah street lined with trash bins, speaking into his phone’s camera as he gave a tour of the brightly-colored truck he uses for his garbage can-cleaning business. “If you like seeing dirty stuff get cleaned and watching how cool stuff works, follow along,” he said in the video shared on TikTok. “Let’s clean some bins!” Evertsen’s service, Bin Blasters , had for a whole year struggled to get traction through Facebook and Instagram. So taking a cue from his teenage daughter, he decided to try promoting it on TikTok instead. On his eighth video, just one month in, Evertsen “blew up.” "I went out and just started cleaning bins that day, started on our route, and I look at my phone like an hour later, and there's 17,000 views,” he recalled. “Then it just got in the millions.” … [Read more...] about How A TikTok Ban Would Deal A Blow To Creators, Businesses And The American Economy