The Federal Trade Commission is now up to full strength.

Sworn in this week were four of the five new commissioners--Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, Noah Joshua Phillips, Rohit Chopra and new chair Joseph Simons, who was the first sworn in, on May 1.

Acting chair Maureen Ohlhausen will remain a Republican commissioner pending the status of her judgeship. Christine Wilson, who has been confirmed by the Senate but not sworn in yet, will replace Ohlhausen once that judgeship nomination is approved.

"I also congratulate Christine, who will take my seat if I am so fortunate as to be confirmed by the Senate as a judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims." Ohlhausen said last week of Wilson's confirmation.

In January, President Donald Trump nominated Ohlhausen to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Already exited is Terrell McSweeny, whose last day was April 28.

Before the swearings-in, the FTC had been down to two commissioners, acting chair Ohlhausen and McSweeny, a Democrat.

The FTC will be under increased scrutiny now that it will be principally responsible for overseeing network neutrality following the FCC's reclassification of ISPs as information services not subject to Title II common carrier regs. Common Carriers are exempt from FTC oversight. 

In an unusual joint statement, the entire Democratic contingents of both the FCC and Federal Trade Commissions--that would be two commissioners--criticized FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's plan to suspend, one way or anther,  a portion of the FCC's broadband privacy rules that otherwise go into effect March 2.

An FCC spokesperson had explained that the portion of the rules--about safeguarding consumer data--did not square with FTC protections on edge provider data protection.

“Today Chairman Pai has created an unfortunate dilemma: accept a Bureau-level action that indefinitely unwinds key consumer privacy protections established by the FCC last year, or accept four business days (rather than the usual three weeks) to evaluate and vote on a decision that has massive ramifications for the security of private information held by broadband providers,” said FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.

Without her vote by March 2, either for or against, the chairman's order staying the data safeguarding March 2 implementation can't be adopted, even with two Republican votes. Instead, it would have to be voted at the late March public meeting. Pai has signaled that if the item is not voted by March 2, the portion of the order will be stayed on bureau-level authority.

“I am very troubled by the news that the data security protections of the Broadband Privacy Rule will be put on hold," said FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny. "What this means, in effect, is that consumers with a broadband subscription will be less protected because the only cop on the beat has been taken off their patrol. In an age of Internet connected everything, removing security requirements from broadband providers is needlessly dangerous for American consumers. The rules the FCC adopted conform to long standing FTC practice and provide clear rules on how broadband companies should protect their customers’ personal information. This action weakens the security requirement guarding every consumers’ most personal data and should be reconsidered."