CDT Joins Advocates in Urging Congress to Ensure FTC is Adequately Resourced to Protect Consumers
The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) joined a letter – alongside over a dozen privacy, child, and consumer advocates – to ensure that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the requisite budget to enforce the FTC Act and the 82 other statutes Congress has assigned it.
***
From the letter:
By legislative design, the FTC is the only independent federal agency tasked with protecting American consumers and promoting competitive markets across the economy. This is a critical mission made more difficult to accomplish by the increasing use of emerging technologies and the growing mismatch in resources between the FTC and regulated companies.
…
Emerging technologies have a growing presence in our daily lives—from the mundane (ordering groceries for home delivery) to the extraordinary (kids exploring the metaverse). Yet, such technologies have been deployed with few, if any, safeguards to Americans’ privacy or security. Further, these technologies are controlled by a shrinking number of firms. In fact, a September 2021 FTC study revealed that from 2010 to 2019, the top 5 technology platforms conducted over 600 seemingly insignificant acquisitions, but combined resulted in substantially reduced competition. Record profits also allow companies to agree to fines as the cost of doing business.
