AshkanSoltani
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White House refuses security clearance for Ashkan Soltani
Last month White House CTO Megan Smith announced that Ashkan Soltani would be joining her staff as a senior advisor, after leaving his post as the FTC's chief technologist. Today, Soltani revealed he will not be able to take the job, after being informed by the Office of Personnel Security that he is not receiving the necessary security clearance. There's no explanation as to why that is, but as The Guardian mentions and many are speculating, it could be a result of Soltani's participation in Pulitzer-winning reporting for the Washington Post covering the Edward Snowden revelations. We've contacted the White House and the Office of Science and Technology Policy but have not received any response.
Meet the FTC's new chief technologist
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has again cocked an eye toward privacy by appointing Lorrie Cranor as chief technologist. Cranor heads Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory (CUPS), and has written over 150 research papers on the topic. The FTC is set up to prevent "fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices," so Cranor will advise it on concerns around technology and policy. For starters, she would like companies to simplify their privacy and security practices so that they're easier for the public to grasp. "Companies add more rules, which does not always make websites more secure," she told TribLive.
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.
