FTC appoints privacy consultant as its new Chief Technologist

The Federal Trade Commission has just appointed Ashkan Soltani, an independent consultant on privacy and security matters, as its new Chief Technologist. Soltani's most recent accomplishments include contributing to the Washington Post's coverage on Edward Snowden and assisting the paper on technology topics. He has also provided insight for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal on similar stories. Soltani had already spent time at the FTC as a staff technologist in 2010 and 2011, so this will be his second stint at the agency. This appointment of Soltani, according to the New York Times, could signal a stronger push by the FTC to keep an eye on online privacy and security as concerns about those topics continue to surface.

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