On October 10, 2012, His Excellency Mr. Jonas Hafstrom, the Ambassador of Sweden, and his wife, Mrs. Eva Hafstrom, hosted a Media and Technology Roundtable dinner with Commissioner Julie Brill of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission at the Swedish Embassy Residence. Views of the sunset were spectacular as guests enjoyed drinks on the patio before taking their seats at the table, where the Ambassador and Mrs. Hafstrom welcomed the guests to their residence. After opening remarks from Commissioner Brill, the guests broke into a rigorous and lively discussion about the FTC’s recent activities with a focus on internet privacy and “Do Not Track” issues.
In referring to the FTC’s recent report on consumer privacy, Commissioner Brill explained that the Commission encourages companies to “bake privacy” and “privacy by design” into every stage of their product development. She also discussed the FTC’s recently published guidelines for mobile app developers and the role of the FTC in policymaking and encouraging businesses to develop and implement responsible practices around consumer privacy. The conversation then shifted to“Do Not Track,” a user preference option that stops ad networks from tracking user activity across different websites, and its effectiveness in providing control online to consumers.
Attendees at the dinner included:- Adam Becker, IFE intern, and White House Innovation Fellow
- Catherine Bohigian, SVP Federal Affairs, Cablevision
- The Hon. Julie Brill, Commissioner, U.S. Federal Trade Commission
- Stephen Ciccone, VP for Government Affairs, Toyota
- Carine Dumit, MTR Program Director and Energy Finance Consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton
- R. David Edelman, IFE Fellow and Senior Advisor for Internet Policy, The White House
- John Farmer, Senior Advisor to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
- Josh Galper, Chief Policy Officer and General Counsel, Personal
- Shane Green, MTR Founder, Co-Founder and CEO of Personal
- His Excellency Ambassador Jonas and Mrs. Eva Hafstrom, Embassy of Sweden
- Kashmir Hill, Forbes
- Coach Kathy Kemper, IFE Founder and CEO
- Kenneth Parker, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs and Corporate Citizenship, Pepco
- Beverly Perry, Special Advisor to the CEO, Pepco
- Marci Robinson, Chair, Board of Stewards, IFE and President, Robinson Communications
