Wyden Investigation Reveals New Details About Automakers’ Sharing of Driver Information with Data Brokers

"Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate and hold responsible automakers and their data broker partners, for disclosing data on millions of Americans, without consent in a letter today. An investigation by Wyden revealed new facts regarding automakers’ disclosure of driving data, such as sudden braking and acceleration, to data brokers for subsequent resale to insurance companies. General Motors (GM) also confirmed to Wyden’s office that it shared customers’ location data with two other companies, which GM refused to identify.

The senators’ letter to the FTC included new details about GM, Honda, and Hyundai’s sharing of drivers’ data with data brokers, including details about the payments the data broker Verisk made to automakers. Based on information Wyden obtained from automakers, the senators revealed: 

• Hyundai shared data from 1.7 million cars with Verisk, which paid Hyundai $1,043,315.69, or 61 cents per car;

• Honda shared data from 97,000 cars with the data broker Verisk, which paid Honda $25,920, or 26 cents per car;

• Automakers used deceptive design tactics, known as “dark patterns,” to manipulate consumers into signing up for programs in which driver data was shared with data brokers, for subsequent resale to insurance companies.."
  AutoMakers Sharing Data 

Online Health and Safety for Children and Youth: Best Practices for Families and Guidance for Industry

"The Kids Online Health and Safety Task Force (KOHS) report provides recommendations and best practices for safer social media and online platform use for youth. The recommendations underscore the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to address the ongoing youth mental health crisis.

Report on Safer Social Media and Online Platform Use for Youth

The report provides a summary of the risks and benefits of social media on the health, safety, and privacy of young people; best practices for parents and caregivers; recommended practices for industry; a research agenda; and suggested future work, including for the federal government..."
Online health and safety for children 

2024 Presidential Nominating Process: Frequently Asked Questions

"The presidential nominating process is one of the most complex aspects of American politics. This report provides brief answers to selected frequently asked questions about that process in 2024. In some cases, the topics addressed herein are developing rapidly and are subject to change..

Both major parties select their presidential and vice-presidential nominees every four years through an extended process that can involve caucuses, conventions, primary elections, or a combination thereof. Each party establishes its own rules about how nominees are selected and how state parties may participate in that process, culminating in the quadrennial national nominating conventions. These meetings are important occasions in the nation’s political life and traditionally mark the end of the nomination phase of the presidential campaign season for their respective parties. For 2024, the Democratic Convention is scheduled for August 19-22 in Chicago, IL. The Republican Convention is scheduled for July 15-18 in Milwaukee, WI.

Democrats and Republicans use different methods to select their delegates within states and to allocate their votes at the national conventions. These include a combination of delegates who are pledged to particular candidates and selected at state nominating events, as well as those who are automatic delegates by virtue of their party positions. Both parties may penalize states that do not adhere to party rules surrounding delegate selection and allocation.

Both major parties award delegates based at least partially on a state’s previous support for the party’s presidential nominees. For 2024, Democrats expected to allocate a total of 4,521 delegates, and Republicans expected to allocate a total of 2,429 delegates.

The presidential nominating process is a political one, not a governmental one. Political parties are private entities and are generally free to set their own rules for how they select presidential and vice-presidential nominees. Federal or state election laws set some boundaries, particularly those guaranteeing fundamental voting-rights protections (e.g., through the Voting Rights Act). Federal campaign finance law also regulates all aspects of fundraising and spending affecting presidential campaigns, including during the nomination phase.

Congress does not have formal institutional roles in the presidential nominating process, which is governed by political parties. Congress typically does not legislate on the nomination process itself. Individual Members of Congress can and often do choose to be actively involved, in their unofficial capacities, in presidential campaigns and to attend presidential nominating conventions as delegates. Policy matters related to the nominating process could arise as part of the House and Senate’s elections oversight or appropriations duties, such as through providing funding for convention security or considering of federal election legislation.

This report provides general policy information about the nomination process. It does not provide detailed discussion of party rules, which the parties alone interpret and enforce. Members of Congress or staff members who are participating in the nominating process or serving as convention delegates often consult with their state or national party committees regarding their individual roles and responsibilities, and interpretation of party rules..."
Presidential Nominating Process 

Older and wiser, but not richer: The gender pay gap for older workers

"

Older women are losing out

President Biden recently identified older workers as the “Backbone of the Nation.”
While that may be the case, older women workers – who comprise 47% of the labor force ages 55 and older – are plagued by a gender wage gap that is even larger than the one their younger counterparts experience.

Among workers ages 50 or older, women working full-time and year-round are paid about 75 cents for each dollar their male counterparts make. 

In 2022, the most recent year for which data are available, women 50-59 working full-time, year-round were paid about $56,000 annually – $18,300 less than their male counterparts. Women 60-69 were paid about $18,800 less than men in their 60s and women 70 or older were paid about $16,000 less than men in their 70s. To put this in perspective, among people ages 20-29, women were paid a median of $39,200 and men a median of $42,100 – an annual difference of about $3,000.

These annual wage losses add up. Estimates suggest that over the course of their careers, women lose an average of nearly $400,000relative to white non-Hispanic men due to gender and racial wage gaps. Hispanic and Native American and Pacific Islander women make $1 million less than white non-Hispanic men, while Black women make nearly $900,000 less. These earnings deficits mean less purchasing power for women and their families and less financial security for older women (65+), 11.2% of whom live in poverty. In addition, lower wages can impact Social Security benefits and other sources of retirement income such as IRAs and 401(k)s.

Research from the Women’s Bureau and the U.S. Census Bureau shows that 70% of the gender pay gap remains unexplained after adjusting for gender differences in education, occupation, industry, work experience, hours worked and other worker characteristics. This remaining unexplained wage gap is due to a combination of unobservable worker characteristics and discrimination.

Solutions

Salary history bans are one solution that can help alleviate pay disparities. The federal government now bans the use of non-federal salary history to determine wages for federal employees, and the Biden-Harris Administration has proposed a similar rule for federal contractors.

Given the outsized role that occupational segregation plays in the gender wage gap, programs that provide pathways for women into high-paying nontraditional occupations, such as the Women’s Bureau’s Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) grant program, can help reduce pay disparities and increase economic security.

Furthermore, eliminating discrimination is key to closing gender wage gaps. The federal government is playing a role: Since Fiscal Year 2022, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice have collectively recovered over $20 million in monetary relief for women who have experienced pay discrimination in the workplace.
Older Workers and Gender Pay