FTC steps in as Obama’s chief enforcer on Internet privacy

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has carved out a new role as the Obama Administration’s chief enforcer on online privacy.

The Obama Administration is pushing Congress to enact baseline privacy regulations, but for now, there are few rules governing how companies must treat people's private data. As people share more information about their lives with companies like Google and Facebook, many privacy advocates, government officials and consumers are worried about how those companies handle that data and how much access advertisers have to it. Under Chairman Jon Leibowitz, the FTC has stepped into the void as the main government agency focused on online privacy protection.