In an op-ed for the American Civil Liberties Union, Robert Gellman argues that in its current form, the Federal Trade Commission does not have the scope or ability to properly protect Americans' privacy. It's heart is in the right place. "No one argues that the FTC is insincere or lacks knowledgeable people, but different viewers weight the value of these activities differently," he writes. However, "the FTC lacks actual statutory authority to take aggressive steps to protect privacy, and it fails to use effectively the authority it does have. Worse, the FTC uses some of its limited resources to protect business interests by arguing in Europe that the American privacy system is better than it is. None of the FTC’s activities in Europe does anything to help American consumers."
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