In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is a lead cybersecurity and privacy regulator at the federal level that relentlessly brings enforcement actions for bad data protection or poor privacy practices across the country, notably under the FTC Act, GLBA and FCRA / FACTA.
What is the Federal Trade Commission?
Established over a century ago in 1914, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent US federal agency empowered to regulate competition and protect consumers from fraudulent or deceptive trade practices in the United States. The FTC has several bureaus, for example, the Bureau of Consumer Protection (BCP) that, among other things, regulates abusive telemarketing and robocalls.
What laws and regulations does the FTC enforce?
The Commission has enforcement authority, or other responsibilities, under more than 70 federal laws, oftentimes in collaboration with other regulatory agencies, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and state Attorneys General (AG). Currently, there is no overarching privacy and data protection law in the US, however, if one day such legislation is finally enacted, the FTC will most likely be empowered to enforce it and implement additional rules under the statute. The FTC brought its first enforcement action involving Internet fraud in 1994, and today is de facto the main federal regulator of cybersecurity and privacy across the US. For instance, the Commission developed the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule. Other most important laws related to the digital space and enforced by the Commission are described below.
Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA)
In 1914, the newly enacted Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) established the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that, over the time, became the data security watchdog in the United States. The FTC Act was initially passed to ensure healthy competition, prevent a wide spectrum of unfair trade practices and protect American consumers from fraud. The Act generally applies to all industries and all company sizes unless regulated separately by another federal law.
Want to learn more about FTC act compliance? Check the full article here:
https://www.immuniweb.com/compliance/ftc-cybersecurity-privacy-compliance-glba-fcra-sec/
