Diane Bartz of Reuters reports that Julie Brill, North Carolina’s senior deputy attorney general and chief of consumer protection is being considered to fill a vacant commission seat at the FTC, “according to antitrust sources with knowledge of the administration’s thinking.”
According to Reuters:
Brill previously worked in the Vermont Attorney General’s consumer protection and antitrust divisions.
Despite working primarily outside Washington, Brill urged a congressional panel in 2005 to require that consumers be notified of data security breaches unless there were no risk of harm or misuse of personal information. In 2003, she urged greater protections to stop corporations from sharing nonpublic financial information about consumers.
The story names Edith Ramirez as the other potential nominee. Like Brill, she has antitrust experience, but unlike Brill, does not seem to have a background in consumer issues. She is reportedly an ally of Obama’s going back to their time together on Harvard Law Review.