Federal Trade Commission Privacy Law and Policy (FTCPL&P) is my 2016 book on the FTC. It is really two books. The first part details the agency’s consumer protection history from its founding, and in so doing, it sets the context for the FTC’s powers and how it is apt to apply them. The book has an institutional analysis discussing the internal dynamics that shape agency behavior. It details how the FTC policed advertising with treatments of substantiation, the Chicago School debates, the problem of advertising to children, and the Reagan revolution. The second part of the book explains the FTC’s approach to privacy in different contexts (online privacy, security, financial, children’s, marketing, and international). One thesis of the book is that the FTC has adapted its decades of advertising law cases to the problem of privacy. There are advantages and disadvantages to the advertising law approach, but do understand that if you are a privacy lawyer, you are really an advertising law lawyer 🙂
FTCPL&P has been reviewed in the Journal of Economic Literature, the ABA Antitrust Source, the European Data Protection Law Review, World Competition, and the International Journal of Constitutional Law. offers comprehensive consulting, management, design, and research solutions. Every architectural endeavor is an opportunity to shape the future
FTC Posts
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On Edward Balleisen’s Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff
“…fraud is endemic to modern capitalism,” so said Professor Edward Balleisen at a National History Center talk on his excellent, comprehensive, thoughtful Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff. We need histories of consumer protection. Balleisen provides one such history, focusing on the idea of fraud—specifically those wrought by businesses against consumers and investors.…
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D-Link Updates
The seal has been lifted on the complaint in the D-Link case. This document highlights the previously redacted portions in yellow. Yesterday (April 3, 2017), D-Link filed a motion to dismiss that includes the initial hearing transcript.
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The D-Word: Dignity
Several months after joining the Commission as director of consumer protection, David Vladeck gave an interview to the New York Times, in which he invoked the d-word – dignity – four times. In describing his role at the Commission, he said, “I think there’s a huge dignity interest wrapped up in having somebody looking at…
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Dept. of Commerce’s Privacy Shield Checklist
Practitioner friends, the Department of Commerce just released their checklist for Privacy Shield applicants. Update (4/14/17): received a “no records” response from DOC–ITA on procedures for removal from the Privacy Shield.
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On Kenneth Rogoff’s The Curse of Cash
Professor Kenneth Rogoff’s Curse of Cash convincingly argues that we pay a high price for our commitment to cash: Over a trillion dollars of it is circulating outside of US banks, enough for every American to be holding $4,200. Eighty percent of US currency is in hundred dollar bills, yet few of us actually carry…
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Ad Format for Touch ID–Someone Is Working on this Right Now 🙂
What can fit in 2170×60? 🙂 Thank you, jonathanhher for your Nyan Cat logo.
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On the “Coalition for Better Ads”
Behold the newest self-regulatory group, the “Coalition for Better Ads,” which claims that it will, “improve consumers’ experience with online advertising. The Coalition for Better Ads will leverage consumer insights and cross-industry expertise to develop and implement new global standards for online advertising that address consumer expectations.” How? They will: Create consumer-based, data-driven standards that…
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About FTC PL&P
[fusion_testimonials design=”classic” backgroundcolor=”” textcolor=”” random=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=””][fusion_testimonial name=”Daniel J. Solove” avatar=”none” image=”” image_border_radius=”” company=”John Marshall Harlan Research Professor of Law, George Washington University, Washington DC” link=”” target=”_self”] “Chris Hoofnagle has written the definitive book about the FTC’s involvement in privacy and security. This is a deep, thorough, erudite, clear, and insightful work – one…
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FTC PL&P Reviewed in ICON
I am honored and delighted to have my book reviewed by EUI’s Bilyana Petkova, who wrote in part: …the work of Hoofnagle stands out by offering both a welcome description of the applicable law and a broad contextual framework…Chris J. Hoofnagle takes over fifteen years of experience in American consumer protection, information, and privacy law…
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LifeLock’s Non-Public Initial Assessment
In LifeLock, the FTC alleged that the company “failed to establish and maintain a comprehensive information security program…” as required by a 2010 order. Lifelock settled the case for over $100M, despite the fact that the company claimed it had a clean bill of health from a reputable third party PCI assessor, and according to…
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On Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction
Few have shed as much light on data science than Cathy O’Neil. The former Barnard math professor, author of Doing Data Science, and hedge fund quant has now published Weapons of Math Destruction (Crown 2016). Weapons of Math Destruction (WMDs) are perversions of data science that increasingly influence our lives. O’Neil shows how sloppy mathematical…
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15 Cromulent Neologisms From Joshua Cohen’s Book of Numbers
I am so delighted with Joshua Cohen’s Book of Numbers that here I’ve picked out my favorite neologisms from the work (earlier post on the book here). Adverks sales: The industrial activity of advertising—onvertising, online advertising Recs, rectards, rectarded, recy: One of the most colorful and widely used descriptors in the book. Techs are sophisticated…