FTC Testifies Before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee On Its Work to Protect Consumers and Promote Competition

The Federal Trade Commission testified before the House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce about its efforts to effectively protect consumers and promote competition, while anticipating and responding to changes in the marketplace.

Testifying on behalf of the FTC, Chairman Joseph Simons and Commissioners Noah Joshua Phillips, Rohit Chopra, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, and Christine Wilson said the FTC is committed to using its resources efficiently to protect consumers and promote competition through law enforcement, policy and research, and consumer and business education. FTC law enforcement actions have helped return more than $1.6 billion to consumers during fiscal year 2018. The testimony notes that the FTC has expanded its focus on privacy to reflect the growing collection, use, and sharing of consumer data in the commercial marketplace. Under Section 5 of the FTC Act and other authorities granted by Congress, the Commission has aggressively pursued privacy and data security cases in myriad areas, including children’s privacy, financial privacy, health privacy, and the Internet of Things. The testimony notes, however, that there are limits to the FTC’s Section 5 authority. The testimony urges Congress to enact privacy and data security legislation, enforceable by the FTC, which would grant the agency civil penalty authority, targeted APA rulemaking authority, and jurisdiction over non-profits and common carriers. The FTC has brought more than 65 data security cases and 60 general privacy cases, the testimony states. 

Chairman Simon said that he does not want Congress to give his agency broad rulemaking authority, targeted instead on privacy. To better protect privacy, he said the FTC needs 1) rulemaking authority; 2) civil penalty authority—currently it can only try and make consumers whole for losses, not penalize the conduct responsible; and 3) jurisdiction over nonprofits and common carriers.