New jobs and economic opportunities in the 21st Century are closely tied to innovation and technology. More innovation, using the power of data and American ingenuity, means more jobs and opportunities. To achieve this goal, the government cannot be an obstacle. Outmoded rules and unpredictable regulations are the greatest impediments on the road to growth and innovation. Ironically, an agency first created to control the old industrial economy will play an increasingly important role in the new technological age – the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC’s role on questions like consumer protection, privacy, data security, competition and more are rapidly expanding. Yet many of the practices the agency uses to accomplish its goals are rooted in a paradigm over a hundred years old and created to help bust big monopoly trusts in 1914. It’s time the agency charged with regulating the innovation economy get some innovation itself. The subcommittee recently examined over a dozen bills that seek to modernize the FTC for the 21st century and put innovation first, and this week we will vote on a number of those bills to modernize the FTC.
