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No. Not every A/B test. > (6) LARGE ONLINE OPERATOR > The term "large online operator" means any person that— > (A) provides an online service; > (B) has mo
by isoskeles 8y ago
No. Not every A/B test.
> (6) LARGE ONLINE OPERATOR
> The term "large online operator" means any person that—
> (A) provides an online service;
> (B) has more than 100,000,000 authenticated users of an online service in any 30 day period; and
> (C) is subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission under the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.).
Presumably there are definitions of other terms in that sentence (e.g. experiments, studies).
Here, it is:
> BEHAVIORAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS OR RESEARCH—
> The term "behavioral or psychological experiments or research" means the study, including through human experimentation, of overt or observable actions and mental phenomena inferred from behavior, including interactions between and among individuals and the activities of social groups.
Honestly, I don't think this is clear enough. Person clicks BLUE instead of GREEN may or may not fall under this definition. I don't think it should, but if I have 100M+ authenticated users per month, I'm probably going to put up a notice anyway.
- nordsieck 8y ago> Honestly, I don't think this is clear enough. Person clicks BLUE instead of GREEN may or may not fall under this definition. I don't think it should, but if I have 100M+ authenticated users per month, I'm probably going to put up a notice anyway. I'm not sure why you think an A/B test is not covered by > the study ... of overt or observable actions and mental phenomena inferred from behavior but it seem to me to be the very thing targeted by this legislation. I agree that the end result: Google disclosing 100k A/B tests each quarter is a grotesque tax on private industry without any social gain. However, it doesn't strike me as terribly out of line from other legislation in its effect.
- isoskeles 8y agoDefine study. Define mental phenomena. Define behavior. I just don't picture the wording being clear enough that it wouldn't be scrutinized if some company failed to disclose seemingly benign (blue vs. green) A/B tests. I'm not a lawyer though.
- LyndsySimon 8y agoI am also not a lawyer, but I spend a great deal of time reading about these things and how they're handled in the courts. Ambiguity in law is handled in at least two different ways: in criminal matters, ambiguity is read in the most favorable light for the defendant; in regulatory matters, the interpretation adopted by the regulatory agency responsible for the law's implementation is considered binding so long as it is "permissible construction" of the statute. The latter is commonly known as the "Chevron doctrine"[0] The long and short of it is that this bill, if enacted, will mean whatever the Executive Branch says it means. If it's particularly egregious, then their interpretation will be challenged in court and perhaps eventually trimmed down a bit. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevron_U.S.A.,_Inc._v._Natural_Resources_Defense_Council,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevron_U.S.A.,_Inc._v._Natura....