With the hiring of Jonathan Mayer, the FCC could soon get tougher on privacy and security

Among privacy groups in the United States, Jonathan Mayer is known as a vocal advocate who has defended the right of consumers to turn off online tracking of their browsing activities. Among digital security experts, Mayer is known, among other things, as the Stanford computer scientist who reported in 2012 that Google was bypassing privacy settings in Apple’s Safari browser by placing bits of code in digital ads that tracked the sites users visited. Google subsequently agreed to pay a $22.5 million fine to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission that the company had misrepresented its privacy practices. Now Mayer, 28, has a new handle: federal regulator.

On Nov 24, the Federal Communications Commission said it had hired Mayer as chief technologist in the agency’s enforcement bureau. Mayer joins the agency as it is developing new privacy rules for online providers, like AT&T and Verizon, that could limit their tracking of consumers’ web activities. His hiring is an indication that the FCC is bolstering the enforcement team that investigates data breaches and other consumer protection cases.