Today, the Federal Trade Commission announced that, on February 26, it will host a workshop focused on a deceptively simple question: how should consumer injuries and benefits be evaluated in an economy increasingly built on data?
The workshop, titled “Measuring Injuries and Benefits in the Data-Driven Economy,” reflects an issue the FTC has been grappling with for years. Data fuels advertising, personalization, and innovation, but it also creates risks that don’t always fit neatly into traditional consumer protection frameworks. Unlike classic fraud cases, data-related harms are often intangible, indirect, or cumulative, making them harder to define and even harder to measure.
That challenge is magnified by the fact that the United States still lacks a comprehensive federal privacy statute. Instead, companies operate under a growing patchwork of…
