FTC Announces Agenda for PrivacyCon

The Federal Trade Commission announced its agenda for PrivacyCon, a first-of-its-kind FTC event featuring 19 presentations of original research regarding important consumer privacy and security issues by leading academics from universities and think tanks from around the world. The conference, which will take place in Washington (DC) on Jan. 14, 2016, will also include discussion sessions about the policy implications of the research being conducted with thought leaders from academia, research, consumer advocacy, and industry.

FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez will provide opening remarks, and Commissioner Julie Brill and newly appointed Chief Technologist Lorrie Cranor will also speak at the event. The day will be divided into five major topic areas: the current state of online privacy, consumers’ privacy expectations, big data and algorithms, the economics of privacy and security, and security and usability. Within each topic area, researchers will present new research on the topic, which will be followed by a short discussion session addressing the issues more broadly.