Defending the Digital Consumer

Commissioner Julie Brill of the Federal Trade Commission has a pretty good idea what the Internet will look like in five years: It won’t exist. The FTC executive believes everyone will have so many devices deeply woven into the Internet, that the line between online and offline will simply cease to exist. That will present many challenges for the FTC. Continuing to provide consumers with notice and choice about how and why their data will be used is likely to become exponentially more complex. Working as an attorney in consumer protection and antitrust for more than 20 years, Commissioner Brill has become a key player in the country’s digital privacy debate.

Asked if she had the chance to change on thing with respect to technology and privacy in the US, Commissioner Brill said, "I would like to see more significant protections for health information and other sensitive information that is flowing outside of the protected silos of sector-specific privacy laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Fitness bands, wearables and other health-oriented devices, apps and online services provide consumers with enormous benefits, from monitoring their health to answering questions about health conditions and diseases. Yet the information about consumers that flows from these devices, as well as health information that marketers and data brokers infer from other information, can be deeply personal and can cause severe harm to consumers if it is inappropriately used or disclosed."