Consumer Law & Policy Blog

Jon Leibowitz Leaves the FTC

Jon Leibowitz announced his departure from the FTC today, the Blog of the Legal Times reports:

After a four-year tenure marked by an increased focus on privacy and aggressive consumer protection, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz announced today that he is stepping down on February 15.

"I don't have any regrets," Leibowitz said in a conference call with reporters. "I like to think we have made America in a small way a better place to live and helped ensure an even playing field for businesses."

Leibowitz's departure is a big loss for the agency and American consumers, particularly because it comes so close on the heels of David Vladeck's departure from his post as head of consumer protection. It also leaves the FTC with 2 Demoratic and 2 Republican commissioners, raising the very real prospect of 2-2 splits that could leave the agency deadlocked on important issues until a successor is confirmed by the Senate.

The Legal Times names current comissioners Julie Brill and Edith Ramirez as leading contenders:

Brill, formerly the senior deputy attorney general and chief of consumer protection and antitrust for the North Carolina Department of Justice, is known of her work in privacy protection and has a reputation for favoring vigorous enforcement.

Ramirez, a former partner with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, is regarded as brilliant and somewhat reserved. She went to law school at Harvard with President Barack Obama and worked with him on the law review (fellow law review member Julius Genachowski has served as head of the Federal Communications Commission since June 2009).

Many in the consumer advocacy community know and trust Julie Brill and favor her for the job.

The FTC's Innovative Contest to Deal With Annoying Commerical Robocallers -- There's a Cash Prize Involved!

by Brian Wolfman

Back in October, the Federal Trade Commission challenged the public

to create an innovative solution that will block illegal commercial robocalls on landlines and mobile phones. As part of its ongoing campaign against these illegal, prerecorded telemarketing calls, the agency ... launch[ed] the FTC Robocall Challenge, and offer[ed] a $50,000 cash prize for the best technical solution.

I apologize if this is old news to some folks, but I'd never heard of it until today. And I don't remember any federal agency doing something like this: offering a cash prize to an innovator who wins a contest by coming up with what looks like the best solution to an intractable problem.

Yesterday, the FTC reported that it had received 744 eligible contest submissions before the January 17, 2013 contest deadline. Judging will begin next week and will look at the following criteria:

• Does it work? (50 percent)
• Is it easy to use? (25 percent)
• Can it be rolled out? (25 percent)

The FTC has also published a "challenge submission gallery", which provides a brief description of each submission. Some of the submissions have cute names and logos. Check out "Buzz Kill."