Interview with Deborah Platt Majoras, Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Her views were sought on ten questions relating to advertising regulation: 1) the impact of advertising on the economy in regard to competition and consumer protection; 2) the most significant issues facing the Commission in regard to advertising (answer: preventing deception); 3) whether the Commission's Section 5 powers to ban or restrict are adequate (answer: adequate at home, but more effective protection against international fraud is needed); 4) the increasing problem of security breaches and how the FTC is trying to counter these; 5) the rules governing notice to consumers when there has been a security breach, and how the FTC seeks the right balance; 6) whether there should be a general privacy law in addition to sector-specific laws (the FTC has reservations); 7) advertising to children and whether self-regulation is working; 8) the value of a media literacy campaign to help children cope with advertising (FTC is supportive); 9) the effectiveness of the CAN-SPAM Act to stop illegal spamming (some evidence of success but the problem that illegal spammers can remain anonymous, this beyond prosecution, still needs fixing); 10) what the FTC is most proud of, and its top future priority.
An Interview With The Federal Trade Commission Chairman
Daniel L. Jaffe
Deborah Platt Majoras has now been Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for more than a year. Known as a top antitrust expert from her stints as deputy assistant attorney general at in the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division and as a partner in the Washington law firm Jones Day, Chairman Majoras quickly put her stamp on the FTC's broad consumer protection activities, including advertising regulation. Chairman Majoras recently oversaw a major twoday conference jointly sponsored by the FTC and the Department of Health and Human Services on...
