Data Privacy Takes Priority for FTC Chief as Dems Break Deadlock

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan expects to have “a busy summer” now that the leadership panel’s membership is filled out, with consumer data protections among her policy priorities.

Professor Alvaro Bedoya’s recent addition to the FTC breaks a partisan deadlock and gives Khan the Democratic votes needed to launch a rulemaking that is expected to put limits on companies’ collection and use of consumer data and set standards for how such data must be secured.

Khan said the commission is “considering next steps” toward regulating what she’s dubbed “commercial surveillance practices.”

“This is a top area of priority for ...