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Ashkan Soltani will lead California's Privacy Protection Agency

The former FTC chief technologist will help oversee the California privacy law he helped write.

Ashkan Soltani speaking on a panel

Ashkan Soltani will serve as executive director of the California Privacy Protection Agency.

Photo credit: New America/Flickr

Privacy advocate and former FTC chief technologist Ashkan Soltani has been selected to lead the California Privacy Protection Agency. As executive director of the agency, Soltani will help oversee compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act and the California Privacy Rights Act, two laws he played a large hand in writing.

"California is leading the way when it comes to privacy rights and I'm honored to be able to serve its residents," Soltani said in a statement. "I am eager to get to work to help build the agency's team and begin doing the work required by CCPA and the CPRA."

The California Privacy Rights Act, known as Proposition 24, created the agency last year, giving it the power to write rules related to California's privacy law and oversee enforcement. That law comes into effect in January of 2023.

Recently, Soltani has been advocating for a global privacy control that would allow people to opt out of tracking through their browsers with the click of a button.

Issie Lapowsky

Issie Lapowsky ( @issielapowsky) is Protocol's chief correspondent, covering the intersection of technology, politics, and national affairs. She also oversees Protocol's fellowship program. Previously, she was a senior writer at Wired, where she covered the 2016 election and the Facebook beat in its aftermath. Prior to that, Issie worked as a staff writer for Inc. magazine, writing about small business and entrepreneurship. She has also worked as an on-air contributor for CBS News and taught a graduate-level course at New York University's Center for Publishing on how tech giants have affected publishing.

california consumer privacy actashkan soltanicalifornia
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