While the FTC is responsible for ensuring fair trade practices, it has “been steadily hacking the law to make itself into a privacy and security officer responsible for protecting Americans’ data,” writes Kashmir Hill for Forbes. It’s come with some controversy, as evident in the case of Wyndham Hotels, in which the FTC charged the brand with “unfair” data practices. Wyndham fought back that the FTC doesn’t have the regulatory authority to oversee data security, and the case is now headed to the Third Circuit. While unable to discuss the Wyndham case, speaking at hacker conference Defcon, Federal Trade Commissioner Terrell McSweeny said, “This reinforces my support—and it’s a unanimous position held by the FTC—that we need comprehensive data-security legislation.”
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