Like many other federal agencies, the FTC occasionally reaches out to public problem solvers and technologists via contests and challenges to find solutions that support its mission. The following were held from 2012 to 2017. To learn more about government challenges to the public, please visit www.challenge.gov.
IOT Home Inspector Challenge (2017)
The FTC challenged the public to create a technical solution or tools that consumers could use to guard against security vulnerabilities in software found on the Internet of Things (IoT) devices in their homes.
Robocalls: Humanity Strikes Back (2015)
The FTC challenged contestants to create tools people could use to block and forward robocalls automatically to a honeypot — a data collection system that researchers and investigators can use to study the calls.
Detectarobo (2015)
The FTC challenged the tech-savvy public to analyze call data to create algorithms that could predict which calls were likely robocalls.
Zapping Rachel (2014)
The FTC challenged the tech-savvy public to zap Rachel and other robocallers by creating the next-generation robocall honeypot, an information system designed to attract robocallers and help investigators and academics understand and combat illegal calls.
Robocall Challenge(2012)
The FTC challenged innovators to create solutions that will block illegal robocalls on landlines and mobile phones and operate on a proprietary or non-proprietary device or platform.