On 100-year anniversary, FTC head looks forward

On the 100th anniversary of her agency’s founding, Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez is looking forward.

“No doubt the next century will bring even more transformation that will impact the American economy and consumers,” she wrote in a blog post on Friday.

“I’m confident that the FTC is well-positioned to meet the challenges of the next 100 years, and that it will continue to carry out successfully its mission on behalf of consumers.”

{mosads}On Sept. 26, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the FTC Act, which created the trust-busting agency to go after monopolies and other abusive companies.

Since then, its mission has evolved along with the rest of the country, though its most powerful legal tool is still a provision that allows it to go after companies with “unfair or deceptive practices.”

“Through the decades and all of these dramatic changes, the FTC has played the same trusted role – promoting competition and the interests of American consumers using the tried-and-true tools of law enforcement, sound public policy, and consumer education,” Ramirez wrote.

The agency has used that license to stop “unfair and deceptive” practices to go after a broad range of companies, including those that were targeted by hackers. According to the FTC, many of those companies did not do enough to adequately protect people’s privacy.

That authority had been challenged by companies, which accused the agency of doling out punishments without writing formal regulations, though a court this year ruled in favor of the FTC, seeming to give a boost to its actions. 

Additionally, major tech firms Google, Apple and Amazon have all come into the agency’s crosshairs this year for their rules allowing children to buy products on smartphones and tablets with their parents’ permission.