The Federal Trade Commission is hosting a Spring Privacy Series on emerging consumer privacy issues, and the first event on Feb. 19, 2014 in Washington, D.C., will explore mobile device tracking. With retailers and other businesses tracking consumers’ movements throughout and around retail stores, the FTC is exploring potential privacy concerns and questions about these practices.
The workshop will be free and open to the public. It will be held at the FTC Conference Center at 601 New Jersey Avenue, N.W. in Washington, D.C.
The Commission’s Chief Technologist Latanya Sweeney will conduct a mobile location tracking demonstration in the hallway directly outside the conference center for all interested individuals at 9:30 a.m. The complete agenda is as follows:
| 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. | Registration/Doors Open |
| From 9:30 a.m. – 9:55 a.m., as well as immediately following the workshop, FTC Chief Technologist Latanya Sweeney will provide a mobile location tracking demonstration. | |
| 10:00 a.m. – 10:05 a.m. | Welcome |
| 10:05 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. | Technical Overview: Ashkan Soltani, Independent Researcher and Consultant |
| 10:25 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | Panel Discussion |
| Moderators: Amanda Koulousias & Kristen Anderson, Attorneys Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, FTC |
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| Panelists: Mallory Duncan, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, National Retail Federation James Riesenbach, Chief Executive Officer, iInside Seth Schoen, Senior Staff Technologist, Electronic Frontier Foundation Glenn Tinley, President and Founder, Mexia Interactive Ilana Westerman, Chief Executive Officer, Create with Context |
The FTC invites live webcast viewers to submit questions to moderators online. Staff will live-tweet the workshop, and take questions via Twitter, Facebook, and email.
The live webcast will begin at 10:00 a.m. ET. Viewers can submit questions throughout the day via the following channels:
Twitter: Commission staff will tweet workshop highlights from its @FTC account and use the hashtag: #FTCmobile.
Facebook: Post questions to the mobile device tracking comment thread on the FTC’s Facebook page.
Email: Submit questions via email to [email protected].
FTC staff members will do their best to answer as many questions as possible from the audience and online during the seminar.
The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics. Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.