Tell the FTC About Mobile Payments

How will emerging payment technology impact consumers is a central question the Federal Trade Commission hopes to answer at its upcoming April 26th workshop. Let’s help out the FTC by offering them discussion suggestions.

To inspire food for thought, we’ll start with a sampling from the official list of the FTC’s proposed workshop topics:

• What different technologies are used to make mobile payments and how are the technologies funded (e.g., credit card, debit card, phone bill, prepaid card, gift card, etc.)?
• Which technologies are being used currently in the United States, and which are likely to be used in the future?
• What are the risks of financial losses related to mobile payments as compared to other forms of payment? What recourse do consumers have if they receive fraudulent, unauthorized, and inaccurate charges? Do consumers understand these risks? Do consumers receive disclosures about these risks and any legal protections they might have?
• When a consumer uses a mobile payment service, what information is collected, by whom, and for what purpose? Are these data collection practices disclosed to consumers? Is the data protected?
• How have mobile payment technologies been implemented in other countries, and with what success? What, if any, consumer protection issues have they faced, and how have they dealt with them?
• What steps should government and industry members take to protect consumers who use mobile payment services?

Though the FTC is soliciting comments from the public including original research, surveys and academic papers, which can be filed electronically here, regarding mobile payments, what talking points/research/questions do you think are important to share with the FTC? Do we, as members of the banking innovation community, even want the FTC mucking around in mobile payments?