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Privacy Con 2018

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Event Description

Building on the success of its two previous PrivacyCon events, the Federal Trade Commission announced a call for presentations for its third PrivacyCon, which took place on February 28, 2018.

The 2018 PrivacyCon expanded collaboration among leading privacy and security researchers, academics, industry representatives, consumer advocates, and the government. As part of this initiative, the FTC sought general research that explores the privacy and security implications of emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and virtual reality. The 2018 event focused on the economics of privacy including how to quantify the harms that result from companies’ failure to secure consumer information, and how to balance the costs and benefits of privacy-protective technologies and practices.

The PrivacyCon call for presentations sought research and input on a wide range of issues and questions to build on previously presented research and promote discussion, including:

  • What are the greatest threats to consumer privacy today?  What are the costs of mitigating these threats? How are the threats evolving? How does the evolving nature of the threats impact consumer welfare and the costs of mitigation?
  • How can companies weigh the costs and benefits of security-by-design techniques and privacy-protective technologies and behaviors? How can companies weigh the costs and benefits of individual tools or practices?
  • How can companies assess consumers’ privacy preferences? 
  • Are there market failures (e.g. information asymmetries, externalities) in the area of privacy and data security? If so, what tools and strategies can businesses or consumers use to overcome or mitigate those failures? How can policymakers address those failures?

The deadline for submissions for PrivacyCon was November 17, 2017.

PrivacyCon was free and open to the public, and was held at the FTC’s Constitution Center Office, located at 400 7th St., SW, Washington, DC. PrivacyCon was also webcast live. Archived videos of the presentations are available below, in the Event Details section under Video, and also on the FTC Facebook page.

Also, in an effort to encourage the next generation of privacy and data security researchers, the FTC hosted a PrivacyCon Student Poster Session, which coincided with PrivacyCon and was hosted in the conference rooms of the FTC’s Constitution Center Office, adjacent to the auditorium where PrivacyCon was presented. PrivacyCon presenters and attendees were encouraged to view the posters and interact with students, including during the lunch break.

FTC Privacy Policy

Under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) or other laws, we may be required to disclose to outside organizations the information you provide when you pre-register for events that require registration. The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments, whether filed in paper or electronic form, and as a matter of discretion, we make every effort to remove home contact information for individuals from the public comments before posting them on the FTC website.

The FTC Act and other laws we administer permit the collection of your pre-registration contact information and the comments you file to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. For additional information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see the Commission’s Privacy Act system for public records and comprehensive privacy policy.

This event will be open to the public and may be photographed, videotaped, webcast, or otherwise recorded.  By participating in this event, you are agreeing that your image — and anything you say or submit — may be posted indefinitely at ftc.gov or on one of the Commission's publicly available social media sites.

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