Tech@FTC

Earlier this year, I joined the FTC as the Research Director of our Office of Technology Research and Investigation. As a computer science PhD, the opportunity to conduct research relevant to consumer protection has been an immensely satisfying experience, so I wanted to share an opportunity for other computer scientists to do the same.

On September 15, 2016, the FTC convened a public workshop, Putting Disclosures to the Test, that examined ways of testing and evaluating the effectiveness of disclosures in communicating a wide range of information that consumers need to make informed decisions in the marketplace.

In June, the Commission announced its first settlement with a mobile advertising network, InMobi. Among other things, the Commission’s complaint challenges the company’s location tracking practices. In this post, we explain the mechanism that the Commission alleges InMobi used to track users’ location without permission, and discuss technical steps that mobile operating systems have taken to try to address this practice.

The White House recently released the first ever United States “National Privacy Research Strategy,” which identifies priorities for privacy research funded by the Federal government. While focused on government, the strategy is also intended to spur similar private sector efforts. I participated in the working group that developed the strategy and am excited to see it published.

As we recently announced, the Federal Trade Commission will host a public workshop on September 15, 2016 to examine the testing and evaluation of disclosures that companies make to consumers about advertising claims, privacy practices, and other information. Our goal is to encourage and improve the evaluation and testing of disclosures by industry, academics, and the FTC.

Researchers, the FTC is interested in hearing from you! Last week we announced our Fall Technology Series on emerging consumer technology issues, and this week we announced our second PrivacyCon event. Both the technology series and PrivacyCon offer opportunities for researchers to submit work that informs questions the FTC is exploring.

This year I celebrated Data Privacy Day on January 28 by attending the Privacy Day events at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). It was a great opportunity for people to talk about privacy issues, hear about privacy research, and learn about some steps they can take to protect their privacy.

I’m Lorrie Cranor, and I wanted to briefly introduce myself as the FTC’s new Chief Technologist and the new custodian of the Tech@FTC blog.

I’m excited to be joining Chairwoman Ramirez and the FTC team, and I’m looking forward to serving the FTC and consumers by helping to advance the agency’s understanding of evolving tech, privacy, and data security issues.