FTC gets new chief technologist

Neil Alan Chilson, a key advisor for the Federal Trade Commission on technology, privacy, and data security matters, has been named as acting chief technologist by FTC acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen.

As acting chief technologist, Chilson will be responsible for advising Ohlhausen and the commission on IT matters ranging from the FTC’s own use of technology to the technical aspects of law enforcement and technology policy. He replaces Lorrie Faith Cranor, who returned to Carnegie Mellon University in January after a one-year stint with the FTC.

Chilson, a telecommunications and privacy attorney, was previously with the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP. He holds both master’s and bachelor’s degrees in computer science and earned a law degree from the George Washington University Law School.

That experience with both technology and law informed the decision to name Chilson to his new job, Ohlhausen said. “Neil has spent his career at this intersection and has been a valuable contributor to the FTC, which works at the crossroads of "rapidly changing technology and consumer experiences, implicating complex legal and policy issues.”

Chilson was most recently an FTC attorney advisor in the acting chairman’s office, serving as Ohlhausen’s principal advisor on technology, privacy and data security matters.