PRESS RELEASE: FREE CONFERENCE ON THE INTERNET AND THE FUTURE OF CONSUMER PROTECTION PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Anna Soellner
Director of Outreach and Special Events
Center for American Progress
Phone: 202-682-1611
Email: asoellner@amprog.org
Website: www.AmericanProgress.org

WASHINGTON DC USA -- HIT/HIPAA UPDATE NEWS SERVICE(TM) -- JULY 19, 2006: For the first time since 1996, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this fall will hold major hearings on consumer protection, the Internet, and globalization. On July 24, the Center for American Progress will host the principal event that will frame and inform those hearings. The event will feature senior leadership from the FTC itself, as well as academic, consumer, and industry leaders.

FEATURED FACULTY:
  • FTC Commissioners Jon Leibowitz and J. Thomas Rosch
  • Former FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky
  • Former FTC Directors of Consumer Protection Howard Beales & Jodi Bernstein
CONFERENCE AGENDA:
  • 8:30 am Registration and Continental Breakfast

  • 9:00 am Panel Discussion: Framing the Issues by Sarah Rosen Wartell, Executive Vice President, Center for American Progress (Moderator)

    Panelists:
      Professor Teresa Schwartz, George Washington University: "Lessons from the 1996 Internet Hearings"
      Eileen Harrington, Deputy Director, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection: "The 2006 Hearings"
      Professor Peter Swire, Ohio State University and Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress: "A New Framework for Protecting Consumers on the Internet"

  • 10:45 am Panel Discussion: Consumer and Industry Perspectives by Professor Peter Swire, Ohio State University and Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress (Moderator)

    Panelists:
      Susan Grant, Vice President for Public Policy, National Consumers League: "Phishing, Fraud, and other Consumer Confidence Busters"
      Jules Polonetsky, Vice President, Integrity Assurance, America Online Inc: "I Am My Brother's Keeper: A Distributed Model of Consumer Protection and Self-Regulation"
      Ari Schwartz, Deputy Director, Center for Democracy and Technology: "An Internet Bill of Rights for Consumers"
      Frank Torres, Consumer Affairs Director, Microsoft: "Microsoft's Approach to Consumer Protection"

  • Noon Lunch served

  • 1:00 pm Panel Discussion: Featured Roundtable on Consumer Protection and the Internet by Jodi Bernstein, former Director, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection (Moderator)

    Panelists:
      J. Thomas Rosch, Federal Trade Commissioner and former Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection
      Jon Leibowitz, Federal Trade Commissioner
      Robert Pitofsky, Former Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission
      Howard Beales, Former Director, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection
THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS:

The Center for American Progress, http://www.americanprogress.org/site/c.biJRJ8OVF/b.8473/, is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all. We believe that Americans are bound together by a common commitment to these values and we aspire to ensure that our national policies reflect these values. We work to find progressive and pragmatic solutions to significant domestic and international problems and develop policy proposals that foster a government that is "of the people, by the people, and for the people."

REGISTRATION:

To RSVP, please go to http://www.americanprogress.org/FTCrsvp.

For more information, please visit the event website, http://www.americanprogress.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=593305&ct=2758595, or call 202-741-6246.