Professor Paul Ohm, Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Law School, will be joining the FTC as a senior policy adviser for consumer protection and competition issues in the Internet and mobile market space this August. Ohm’s legal career has focused on information privacy and cyberlaw matters. He is the author of numerous law review articles and essays on computer science, privacy and law, and a frequent contributor to FTC roundtables and discussions on privacy and technology. His article, Broken Promises of Privacy: Responding to the Surprising Failure of Anonymization, 57 UCLA Law Review 1701 (2010) has been often cited in the debate on privacy standards.
Ohm previously served as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. Before his legal career, Ohm earned undergraduate degrees in computer science and electrical engineering and worked as a programmer, network administrator and IT specialist.
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz released a statement on Ohm’s appointment: “Paul’s keen insights on how the law applies to technology and privacy issues will be invaluable to the FTC’s work in these areas. We have been fortunate in bringing in a series [of] top-notch experts to advise us on cutting-edge issues and enhance our in-house expertise. We look forward to having Paul on board.”
Additional coverage is available here, here, and here. A full press release is available here.