Last week the U.S. Supreme Court added another ruling to its list of recent controversial decisions with a 6-3 vote that says that the Environmental Protection Agency does not have the authority to reduce power plant emissions that are believed to cause global warming. As a result of the decision, rules made by other government agencies that impede major industries and corporations to help protect consumers are now likely to be challenged.
A recent Supreme Court ruling could reduce the government from protecting consumers from big tech firms At the same time, the agency has been monitoring the tech industry to make sure that the public isn't being harmed by any budding monopolies. A couple of years ago, The FTC asked various tech firms to turn over data from nearly ten years of acquisitions that these tech firms were not legally required to reveal to U.S. antitrust agencies because they were valued at $90 million or less.
Givens says that agencies like the FTC should be able to withstand challenges to their authority based on the Supreme Court's EPA decision. But she also says that Congress needs to act quickly in order to pass laws protecting consumers' digital privacy rights and other rights related to new technologies. But she also says that even that is not enough.
Also facing an impact from the Supreme Court's EPA ruling is the current administration's desire to tighten net neutrality protections. These are rules designed to prevent ISPs and wireless carriers from throttling service speeds and blocking access to websites unless consumers pay a premium price. First