FTC Announces PrivacyCon, Issues Call to Whitehat Researchers and Academics for Presentations

The Federal Trade Commission will host a conference in January examining cutting-edge research and trends in protecting consumer privacy and security. The event, called PrivacyCon, is the first of its kind and will bring together leading stakeholders, including whitehat researchers, academics, industry representatives, federal policymakers, consumer advocates and others. FTC staff issued a call for presentations seeking original research on new vulnerabilities and how they might be exploited to harm consumers, as well as recent research in areas such as big data, the Internet of Things, and consumer attitudes toward privacy.

The FTC is seeking research from a variety of disciplines, such as data analytics, computer security, marketing, and economics. Panel discussions at the conference, which will be held on Jan. 14, 2016, will address the research presentations, develop suggestions for further collaboration between researchers and policymakers, and highlight steps that companies and consumers can and should take to protect themselves and their data.