The Federal Trade Commission will host a conference in January examining cutting-edge research and trends in protecting consumer privacy and security. The event, called PrivacyCon, is the first of its kind and will bring together leading stakeholders, including whitehat researchers, academics, industry representatives, federal policymakers, consumer advocates and others.

“We want to increase the FTC’s engagement with the technology community in order to more effectively encourage innovation that is protective of consumer privacy and security,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “At PrivacyCon, our goal is to have leading experts in privacy and data security sit at the table with us and other policymakers to discuss their original research findings and the implications for consumer privacy."

FTC staff issued a call for presentations seeking original research on new vulnerabilities and how they might be exploited to harm consumers, as well as recent research in areas such as big data, the Internet of Things, and consumer attitudes toward privacy. The FTC is seeking research from a variety of disciplines, such as data analytics, computer security, marketing, and economics.

Panel discussions at the conference, which will be held on Jan. 14, 2016, will address the research presentations, develop suggestions for further collaboration between researchers and policymakers, and highlight steps that companies and consumers can and should take to protect themselves and their data.

Details on the call for presentations will be available on the PrivacyCon website shortly.

The event will be held at the FTC’s Constitution Center offices, and will be free and open to the public. The conference, including all presentations, will be available to the public via a live-stream and on the FTC website in archived video and transcript form.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics.