Beginning in September 2018 and continuing through January 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) will hold a series of up to 20 public hearings intended to inform its future policy approach to antitrust and consumer protection issues related to data and privacy.
In a press release, the agency noted economic changes, emerging technologies, and international developments as driving factors for potential changes to policy and enforcement agendas. As outlined in its press release, the agency invited the submission of public comments and empirical analyses on a number of topics through August 20, 2018, including, for example, the state of antitrust and consumer protection law and enforcement; the intersection between privacy, big data, and competition; and the agency’s investigation, enforcement, and remedial processes.
During a media roundtable at which this initiative was announced, FTC Chairman Joseph Simons expressed his concern over the FTC’s ability to oversee unfair and deceptive practices as it pertains to data security while noting the agency’s inability to prove the consumer harms resulting from a specific data breach at a time when most consumers have already been a part of prior data breaches. Chairman Simons further offered his belief that the FTC lacked the authority needed to inhibit lax data security practices and that he may seek a legislative fix to expand the agency’s data security and privacy authority.
In fact, at his recent confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Chairman Simons was asked by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) about the need for better protection for consumers against data breaches and, specifically, about introduced legislation – S. 1900, the Data Breach Accountability and Enforcement Act of 2017. In response the Chairman stated, “one of the things that I’m extremely concerned about is whether the FTC has sufficient authority to deal with data breaches, particularly in terms of being able to create a sufficient deterrence, and create an incentive for the companies to take care of the consumer data as they should. And right now we don’t have civil penalty authority. And I think that’s something that we should consider very carefully and take a very close look at so I’m very sympathetic to [the] bill and I look forward very much to working with [Sen. Blumenthal] on it.”
Although the date for the first hearing in this series has not yet been set, a dedicated website for electronic comment submissions, information about the scheduled hearings, and related materials can be accessed at www.ftc.gov/ftc-hearings.
Reporter, Julie C. Crawford, Washington, D.C., +1 202 661 7814, jcrawford@kslaw.com.
