A Century of Technological Evolution at the Federal Trade Commission

I am honored to announce the creation of the Office of Technology (OT) at the Federal Trade Commission, a team that will provide technical expertise across agency matters and strengthen the agency’s ability to enforce the nation’s competition and consumer protection laws. We are hiring technologists to join the team.

Staying on the cutting edge of emerging technology has long been a core part of the FTC's mandate. The emergence of the radio in the 1920s is an especially vivid example. The radio was becoming ubiquitous in American living rooms,[1] creating dramatically new possibilities for entertainment and information. At the same time, this new device provided a potent new vector for false advertising. Amidst an influenza pandemic, Vit-O-Net claimed its heating pad induced magnetic field that could provide a cure for rheumatism and a variety of other bodily ills.[2] Fairyfoot Company promised an adhesive plaster pad that could instantly dissolve bunion pain to achieve bunion-free feet.[3]

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Ads like these became so problematic and widespread in the 1930s that the relatively new Federal Trade Commission,[5] recently empowered by Congress to police “unfair or deceptive acts or practices,”[6] launched the Special Board of Investigation[7] to study a massive volume of radio transcript data. When the agency received complaints about false or misleading ads, staff would request samples of all ad copies published, along with samples and formulas of the product in question. Staff consulted expert federal agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and the Public Health Service for scientific and medical opinions to detect unlawful fraud and abuse.[8] By leveraging these resources and sharpening investigative methods, the agency managed to adapt to the rapid change brought about by radio technology.

Today's technological challenges are even more daunting than those of the radio era. Still, they raise systemic concerns that would have been familiar to enforcers in the 1930s. The common thread is that some technologies can facilitate substantial injury to consumers, are misleading, or may negatively affect competitive conditions.[9] From the rise of the surveillance economy,[10] to companies' widespread application of artificial intelligence,[11] to business models that employ tech to disrupt markets,[12] the shift in the pace and volume of technological changes means that more FTC matters need team members with tech expertise. To stay on top of developments, we can’t rely solely on a case-by-case approach to engaging experts. We need to strengthen our in-house capacity to develop new skills and methods to investigate and mitigate widespread consumer and market harms.

In 2023, the OT will better equip the agency to approach current and future tech threats by building a team of technologists with deep expertise across a range of specialized fields, including data security, software engineering, data science, digital markets, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and human-computer interaction design. This centralized team will be led by the agency’s Chief Technology Officer and deployed to meet interdisciplinary needs across the FTC.

The Office of Technology’s top priority is to work with staff and leadership across the agency to strengthen and support the agency on enforcement investigations and litigated cases. This could mean dissecting claims made about an AI-powered product to assess whether the offering is oozing with snake oil, or whether automated decision systems for teacher evaluations adversely impact employment decisions and make inferences that impact compensation and tenure.[13] We will also keep a finger on the pulse of business model change, like shifts in digital advertising ecosystems, to help the FTC understand the implications on privacy, competition, and consumer protection. We’re working with attorneys and data scientists to decipher the collection and sale of location data and how that data may harm consumers, and to understand the opaque algorithms making decisions affecting millions of consumers. We are tracking emerging technologies like augmented and virtual reality, where immersive environments provide new types of data[14] and ways to collect, use, and make inferences[15] from it. And we are helping the agency [16] such as by requiring companies to implement multi-factor authentication measures that are resistant to phishing[17] or requiring companies to develop a data retention schedule, publish it, and then stick to it.[18]

Beyond enforcement matters, we serve as subject matter experts to advise and engage with FTC staff and the Commission on policy and research initiatives. Our Office of Congressional Relations may need to gather intel for incoming bills or policy research, whether it’s deciphering the latest applications of blockchain[19] or unpacking unfair design practices that can cause substantial physical and other injuries to minors through features that aim to maximize engagement and data collection. We liaise with our Office of International Affairs to cultivate meaningful relationships with international regulatory units – studying, identifying, and integrating best practices from other agencies to best fit the needs and culture of the Commission.

We will also engage and inform outside experts and the public to advance the Commission’s work. Our team recently presented[20] at an Open Commission Meeting on the agency's approach to systemically address data security risks,[21] we have engaged in research[22] and academic conferences,[23] and we published blog posts on the Log4j security vulnerability[24] and effective breach notification.[25]

As we move forward, we will continue to work with Bureau technologists and attorneys who have deep institutional knowledge and enforcement expertise. Today’s milestone is possible because of the contributions of expert technologists and practitioners in the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection,[26] the Office of Technology, Research and Investigation[27], and the Technology Enforcement Division[28] who have already demonstrated the value of technical expertise to bolster the FTC’s casework. We look forward to uniting technologist efforts to better support and cultivate the work of our team to create and scale best practices and promote stronger interdisciplinary collaboration.

Beyond the FTC, the establishment of the Office of Technology is in line with practices of other federal agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Department of Justice. Law enforcement agencies in other countries have also increased tech capacity, including the United Kingdom,[29] Australia,[30] Canada,[31] France,[32] Japan,[33] Korea,[34] Germany,[35] and the Netherlands.[36] This goes beyond increasing tech capacity to build products and services.[37] We‘re bringing in sharp technologists to translate complex systems, and to work with attorneys to enforce the law and shape policy matters.

Today’s action marks a significant commitment to sustaining a structure for technologists in and across the FTC. A lot has changed since the radio age, but some things haven’t. Whether the underlying technology is a radio[38] or a mobile app[39] or a tracking pixel,[40] the Commission will continue to hold technology companies accountable for complying with the consumer protection and competition laws we enforce. The Office of Technology will play a key role in that effort.

We are hiring technologists and hope you will help us spread the word: https://www.ftc.gov/technologists

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Thank you to the current and alumni FTC technologists for their work in building these foundations at the agency and my colleagues[41] for reviewing this piece.