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Jon Leibowitz Expected To Be Named FTC Chairman

  • Ad Age, Tuesday, February 24, 2009 11 AM
President Barack Obama will appoint Federal Trade Commission member Jon Leibowitz to serve as the federal agency's chairman, Ira Teinowitz reports, which could signal a more aggressive stance and enforcement by the agency regarding online privacy and behavioral marketing.

"Industry needs to do a better job of meaningful, rigorous self-regulation or it will certainly invite legislation by Congress and a more regulatory approach by our commission," Leibowitz wrote last week in a concurring statement to an FTC behavioral-privacy report. Leibowitz has also pushed the FTC to be more aggressive in taking on pharmaceutical company deals that delay consumers getting cheaper drugs.

"Leibowitz will help transform what has been a largely anemic regulatory watchdog during the Bush years into an agency that sees its first priority as consumer protection," says Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy.

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