From: AdWeek
By Katy Bachman
One year into her tenure as chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, Edith Ramirez is putting the agency front and center as the nation’s leading enforcer on privacy and data security. Through cases like Snapchat, which lied to its users about its privacy practices, and Trendnet, which failed to secure users’ private video feeds, the FTC is setting precedent for how the marketing industry should balance the need to collect consumer data with the need to protect consumer privacy.
It never occurred to Ramirez that her law degree would take her to Washington, D.C., let alone run the FTC, at a time when technology has made privacy and data security the defining issue for business and consumers. Her career path was set the minute she met fellow Harvard law school student Barack Obama. She says, “We knew he had an interest in politics, and I knew he would do important things.”
Befitting her role as the nation’s privacy arbiter, Ramirez is a no-nonsense individual, not prone to jokes or pleasantries. It’s all business all the time for the San Clemente, Calif., native. Her speeches are precise, carefully worded pronouncements, all assets for the leader of an agency being transformed by privacy and data security issues.
Adweek: Some have called the FTC the “Federal Technology Commission.” How do you react to that?
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