Federal Trade Commissioner Edith Ramirez, recently designated by the Obama administration as the next chair of the Federal Trade Commission, is expected to champion globalized approaches to consumer privacy protection and to clamp down on fraudulent marketing aimed at Spanish-speaking communities. The fact that the Obama administration chose a woman comes as no surprise, considering criticism of the president’s male-centric senior advisory staff. Ramirez has a background steeped in antitrust and competition issues, and served as director of Latino outreach for the Obama 2008 campaign. Jeffrey Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy said, “Under (Ramirez’s) leadership, we expect the FTC to blaze a new ground on privacy.” Ramirez has expressed interest in leadership on APEC’s cross-border privacy rules and the intersection between privacy and technology. She has also indicated support of robust rules around children’s data collection and raising the profile of the agency’s work on behalf of all minority and underserved communities.
