On April 9 and 10, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission focused on the agency’s approach to consumer privacy at the 12th hearing in its “Hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century” series. The hearing occurred at a potentially pivotal time with respect to the regulation of consumer privacy in the United States.

It was nearly a decade ago that the FTC initiated broad public discussion of its overarching approach to protecting consumer privacy, which culminated in 2012 with a comprehensive FTC report, "Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change," which has since served as the agency’s privacy framework. Much has changed in the intervening years. The EU General Data Protection Regulation was adopted and then took effect, the California Consumer Privacy Act was enacted, and Congress and numerous state legislatures have been debating omnibus privacy laws. There have been substantial technological developments, such as the rise of the
internet of things, the proliferation of voice assistants and connected cars, and greater deployment of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Another notable change, reflected in the hearing, is a newly forged, broad agreement on the need for an omnibus federal privacy law with greater powers for the FTC.

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