Washington, DC - It’s a challenging trade-off. Consumer information is often at the heart of technological innovation and the benefits can be substantial. But what about the injury people may experience when information about them is misused? Informational injury is the topic under discussion at an FTC workshop on Tuesday, December 12, 2017, in Washington, DC.
FTC Acting Chairman Ohlhausen will frame the issue with opening remarks. The first panel, Injuries 101, will put a human face on the array of negative consequences that can follow when consumers’ personal information is misused or accessed without authorization. Topics on the table include fraud, financial loss, health and safety concerns, and the vexing amount of time, effort, and exasperation it takes for consumers to untie the Gordian knot of identity theft.
Panel #2, Potential Factors in Assessing Injury, will examine factors for assessing consumer injury. Is the inquiry the same for data security and consumer privacy? How do the type of injury, magnitude of injury, and sensitivity of consumer data matter for thinking about injury? What about the risk of injury vs. realized injury? When do panelists believe that government intervention is warranted?
Panel #3, Business and Consumer Perspectives, will look at how businesses and consumers evaluate the benefits, costs, and risks of collecting and sharing information. What considerations do companies take into account when deciding what privacy and data security practices to implement? And how do consumers make decisions about sharing information?
Panel #4, Measuring Injury, will elaborate on different methods for assessing and quantifying informational injury. What challenges does each method pose? How should the risk of injury be factored in? Are consumers’ choices and reported preferences accounted for? The workshop will end with closing remarks from Andrew Stivers, Deputy Director for Consumer Protection with the FTC’s Bureau of Economics.
You’ll find details on the Information Injury Workshop event page, including the complete agenda, panelists’ names and affiliations, and comments filed on the public record.
Registration opens at 8:30 AM on December 12th at the FTC’s Constitution Center, 400 7th Street, S.W., steps from the L’Enfant Plaza Metro. Just before Acting Chairman Ohlhausen calls the event to order at 9:15 ET, we’ll post a LIVE WEBCAST link so you can follow the discussion.
