Dive Brief:

• The Federal Trade Commission will soon release its report on the data-broker industry, which has been a year in the making, chairwoman Edith Ramirez recently told an audience at the Global Privacy Summit in Washington DC.

• Scrutinizing and improving de-identification is a top priority of the agency, Ramirez also said.

• Ramirez hailed efforts by members of Congress like Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) who introduced a bill Feb. 12 that would educate consumers about how to not only review information given to companies like marketers, but also how to prevent it from being used or brokers from selling it.

Dive Insight:

Especially after the holiday data breach at Target and other retailers, interest in Congress to protect consumers’ data privacy has increased. Now chairwoman Ramirez is making it clear that the Federal Trade Commission is more than willing to step up its own protective efforts, and would like Congress to give it increased regulatory powers in this area.

Retailers and marketers might be alarmed at such developments, but consumers have consistently expressed concern about how their data is collected and used. Companies will likely be better off in the long run embracing these efforts at transparency and protection. Those that do will be more apt to have happier customers who are actually more amenable to sharing their information.