Privacy Role Sparks Debate at FTC Hearing

The debate over the right approach to privacy took center stage during the Federal Trade Commission’s inaugural hearing on competition. David Vladeck and Howard Beales, both former directors of the agency’s consumer protection bureau, clashed over whether the FTC requires a bigger stick when it comes to privacy enforcement. Vladeck argued the agency needs the power to impose civil penalties from the get-go. “I think that a civil penalty, for example, against Google or Facebook initially would have had a deterrent value,” Vladeck said. “Facebook is currently under investigation again. Google it took only two years before it violated the [2011 consumer privacy] consent decree. I do think there ought to be additional fine authority.” But Beales disagreed, saying that while civil penalties could make sense in data security cases, they are not the right fit for privacy. “Civil penalties presume a really clear standard, I think, of what’s a violation and what’s not, and that’s not so clear in a lot of the privacy areas,” Beales said. There was some agreement that privacy regulations are a mess in the US, with Europe’s GDPR and California’s privacy law increasing the pressure for a national framework. Daniel Solove, a Georgetown Law professor, said the US is like the Rodney Dangerfield of privacy in that “we get often no respect from the rest of the world.” But he said he has little faith in Congress’ ability to pass a law.