In Jessica Rich, FTC loses cornerstone of privacy program

[Commentary] Since the 1990s, the Federal Trade Commission has established privacy and data security as a new regulatory area, through dozens of enforcement actions — which scholars have called “a new common law of privacy” — policy reports, and research workshops. Throughout this period, spanning three decades and a transition from the dawn of personal computing and the commercial internet to an age of machine-to-machine communications, smart cars, wearable devices, big data, and the cloud, Jessica Rich, who announced her departure recently as director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, has conceived, initiated, driven, and spearheaded the agency’s emergence as the nation’s primary technology regulator. Through a long series of cautious, incremental steps, always meticulous, never flashy, and often with a wry joke and a smile, Rich built the foundation for a substantial body of law, setting the standard for technology regulators in the US and abroad.

[Omer Tene is Vice President of Research and Education at the International Association of Privacy Professionals. He is an Affiliate Scholar at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and a Senior Fellow at the Future of Privacy Forum.]