Review
"This is a detailed, clearly written guide to the FTC, with specific attention to its privacy practices but including an extensive discussion of its overall history and jurisdiction, at least on the consumer protection side; the antitrust side receives much less attention, which is not a complaint (at least not from me!). I learned a lot, and I'm going to recount some of the highlights..."
Professor Rebecca Tushnet, Georgetown University Law Center
"Chris Hoofnagle...has written an excellent book about the FTC and its approachto privacy. In part, it is an institutional history, using the FTC Act's passage and the advertising cases of the 1960s and 1970s to understandhow and why the FTC is approaching privacy concerns today. [...] This is definitely worth a read, and I'm happy that it's available in paperback at an affordable price. I think the book also would make a great foundational text in a seminar on consumer law."
Professor Katherine Porter, UC Irvine School of Law
"Chris offers tremendous insight into the problems and the solutions. He considers the Commission and its parts (with the Bureau of Economics identified as a significant but little known impediment), its critics, privacy advocates, Congress, and others. He is an equal opportunity critic."
--Robert Gellman, Privacy and Information Policy Consultant
"Professor Hoofnagle's excellent book provides deep insights into thehistory of the FTC's development, and how it became the importantregulatory agency it is today. The book is highly recommended readingfor attorneys, legal academics, privacy and data security professionals, and anyone seeking to understand the FTC's history, and its currentpositions and goals related to technology, consumer privacy and datasecurity."
--John Kincaide, Intel...Through his analysis of the role played by the courts, Congress, and the Commission itself, he illustrates the doctrines and dynamics that have contributed to shaping this agency. This makes the book a valuable tool for European privacy experts who wish to better understand the US regulatory approach to privacy protection and understand how political and social forces have affected the powers given to the Commission...--Alessandro Mantelero, Professor of Private Law and of Innovation & International Transactions Law at the Polytechnic University of Turin...Chris J. Hoofnagle takes over fifteen years of experience in American consumer protection, information, and privacy law and converts them into an absorbing, in-depth institutional analysis of the agency. --Bilyana Petkova, Max Weber Fellow, European University Institute
"Chris Hoofnagle has put together an impressive, authoritative and useful treatise on the law of consumer privacy in the U.S. and the role of the Federal Trade Commission. This book is an excellent read for all those interested in consumer privacy, and should prove to be a valuable resource for years to come. Part I is a detailed description of the history, structure, political context and legal authority of the FTC...This part could be a worthwhile stand-alone reference work in itself..."
--Professor Dee Pridgen
Book Description
This volume explains the FTC's privacy activities and how they fit in the context of the agency's consumer protection mission.
About the Author
Chris Jay Hoofnagle holds dual appointments as adjunct full professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Information and School of Law. He teaches about the regulation of technology, focusing on computer crime law, cybersecurity, Internet law, privacy law, and consumer protection law. Licensed to practice in California and Washington, DC, Hoofnagle is of counsel to Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin and Hachigian, LLP, a firm focused solely on advising global venture capital and emerging technology companies. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute.
