The FTC could face congressional action to limit the agency’s power if...

wrote about his experience with Google “as a high-tech entrepreneur” who “founded several technology startups” including ProFlowers.com, praised the company for having “democraticized access to information” and “helped businesses tap new markets and new customers.” Given the lack of consumer complaints about Google and the massive backlash Congress saw during the debate over the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act, Polis wrote, “the FTC should tread carefully when reviewing Google, Facebook, Twitter or any other tech company, given the dynamism of our tech industry and the potential for making things worse through regulation.” The FTC had no comment on the letter. TechFreedom President Berin Szoka told us by email that Congress could attempt to limit the agency’s power in pursuing antitrust cases. “It’s not hard to imagine Congress writing narrowly targeted legislation to require that the FTC meet the requirements of the core antitrust laws, rather than trying to invent its own authority through Section 5,” of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive practices, he said. “Such a bill should attract bipartisan support from Members who understand that this case is much less about Google in particular than it is about how antitrust will be used to micromanage the Internet in the future,” Szoka said. Congress could create an “FTC Process Reform Act,” Szoka said, similar to the FCC Process Reform Act that passes the House in March. An FTC version could include reforms such as the reinstatement of the agency’s Policy Statement on Monetary Equitable Remedies in Competition Cases, he said -- a 2003 policy that limited the monetary penalties the FTC can impose, which was withdrawn in July.