leibowitz, if we could go to that. and that is, i know that we don't require privacy policies right now. but should we require privacy policies when it comes to kids and teens? >> i think that's something we would like to work with you on, because i think if you can encourage or require companies -- again, above coppa. under copa, we're under a children under the privacy protection act, specific obligations, as this committee knows we're in the process of updating cuppa obligations, i think that's a really good thing to haven't so that you know teens understand some of the consequences. all too often it's after a -- they recognize the importance of privacy, which most consumers recognize if you look at polling data. too often teens recognize the importance of privacy after they've sent something, posted something, read something that caused some harm. so i want to work with you, if up allow me on that issue with you coming forward that would be great. >> as we work on that i'd love to get your thoughts on if, and if so

>> sure. >> so let's start with chairman leibowitz. >> thank you, chairman rockefeller. senator toomey, senator kerry, senator ayotte, i appreciate the opportunity to present testimony on consumer privacy alongside our newest commissioner as well as my friend cam kerry. the commission commends the recent privacy efforts by the department of commerce as well as the bipartisan leadership your committee has shown on consumer privacy issues. though most of my remarks today will concern privacy policy and especially do not track, the ftc is primarily an enforcement agency and commissioner ohlhausen will describe our recent enforcement efforts. mr. chairman, imagine a cash-strapped college student working part-time to keep up with tuition payments. to make ends meet, she applies online for a loan and obtains it at a favorable rate. but she also goes online because her father suffers from depression, so she wants to research symptoms and potential treatments. soon after, in the mail, she receives another loan offer. this time from a payday lender at a much higher rate. in the e

the senate committee looked into the issue, and they heard testimony from jon leibowitz. senator jay rockefeller shares this 90 minute hearing. >> good morning and afternoon, and i apologize for being five minutes late. every day, tens of millions of americans go online to search for information. they want to shop and pay their bills, or they are accessing social networks. to state the yuppie scum of the internet has transformed every aspect of our lives. what is less obvious is the level of information that is collected about us each time we visit a website or watch a video or send an e-mail or make a purchase. consumers have had no choice. people trust that it is safe, secure and will be used appropriately. but the incentive to misuse consumer information is very great. a consumer's personal information is the currency, in fact, of the web. the value of this dollar has created untold riches for those who have successfully harnessed it. this is not necessarily bad, as it enables enormous amount of content to be accessed, and allows companies to access services for free.

chairman leibowitz, the ftc's recently settled privacy cases with well-known online companies used by millions of americans. could you explain how these settlements will benefit consumer online privacy and how have these settlement statements encouraged other companies to change or improve their privacy policies? >> well, we have -- if you're talking about our settlements with, say, google, for google buzz and facebook, we -- we found what we believed were violations of the law essentially those companies made commitments about keeping information private that we believe they did not keep. they did not honor their commitments so we brought cases against them and had settlements. in the settlements, they're required to be monitored. they have to engage in privacy by design. they -- and most importantly, in the -- if you combine the facebook and the google matters, they protect more than 1 billion consumers worldwide. and if those companies want to change their privacy settings, they had to give consumers an opt in going forward to do that. and then, of course, when you're under order,

>> sure. >> so let's start with chairman leibowitz.

i welcome being able to join chairman leibowitz the commissioner at the witness table today. the explosion in the collection and storage and analysis of data and digital information offers new frontiers of knowledge and innovation and growth. but senator toomey asked the question, you know, what is the market failure here? we are now at a tipping point that presents a dual market failure. first, while many companies earn trust as responsible stewards of consumers' personal information, it exceeds the ability of even the most sophisticated consumers to understand and control what information is collected about them. and second, this asymmetry allows outliers and outlaws that are not good stewards of information to take advantage of consumers' trust and lack of information. that is why a graeme companies, consumer groups, the ftc, and the administration support baseline consumer privacy legislation. when it comes to sustaining trust in the digital economy, business and consumer and government interests converge. the administration's privacy blueprint articulates a consumer priv

leibowitz -- jon leibowitz the general counsel to the commerce related to senator kerry and then comeck to you. okay? let's start with mr. jon leibowitz. senators come i appreciate the testimony on consumer privacy. it commends the recent part of the bipartisan leadership you have shown on consumer privacy issues. most remarks conserve privacy policy and it said do not track. we'll describe the recent enforcement efforts. imagine a cash strapped college student and applies online for a loan and obtains it but also because her father suffers from depression so she wants to research symptoms and treatments. then in the mail she receives another loan offered from a payday lender. in the evening she spends time relaxing by being of a social old network but now realizes she precedes adds for medication. could the lender have sold the information into the pale lenders? or the fact she researched the depression and be shared with potential employers? yen these exchanges of the operations of her without awareness. the answer is yes from quick responses to loan applications. and an easy way to

and, um, it's -- chairman leibowitz said that in a congressional hearing, that at least for the time being that report was, that we weren't going to do anything further with the report. but competitive foods is yet another issue. >> competitive foods, let me say that we were talking about partnerships earlier in the federal government to an earlier question. happily, the healthy, hunger-free kids act had a very eclectic and interesting and effective group of partnerships. and among the partner participants that i highly value in a particular way was that of an organization here in this town called mission readiness, an organization of retired military senior leaders, admirals and generals that are, i think, in excess of 250 of them. they successfully lobbied the hill and lobbied the senate agriculture committee which was the original source of this in particular to make sure that we had the authority, unprecedented authority, around competitive foods in all schools across the country. and they did so because they recognize that this is a public health challenge in this country, somet