Pamela Jones Harbour facts for kids

Pamela Jones Harbour (born in 1959) is an American lawyer. She served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2003 to 2009. The FTC is a U.S. government agency that works to protect consumers and make sure businesses compete fairly.

Pamela Harbour is one of only a few African-Americans to have served on the FTC. She is also one of the few people who were not part of the main political parties (she was an Independent) to serve on the commission. She is known for her work in protecting people's privacy and data online.

Early Life and Education

Pamela LeDeyce Jones was born in Queens, New York. Her parents, Joseph and Verneta Jones, owned a company that did stenography. This means they wrote down spoken words very quickly.

Her family later moved to Albany, New York. She graduated from Guilderland Central High School in 1977. Pamela then went to Indiana University School of Music. She earned her music degree in 1981. Later, she studied law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, getting her law degree in 1984.

Career Highlights

Working for New York's Attorney General

Pamela Harbour started her career working for the New York Attorney General's office. She worked there for 11 years. In 1996, she became the Deputy Attorney General for Public Advocacy.

In this role, she worked on cases to stop unfair business practices. This included stopping companies from secretly agreeing on prices, which is called price-fixing. She also argued a case in 1997 before the Supreme Court of the United States. This is the highest court in the U.S.

Serving on the Federal Trade Commission

In 2003, President George W. Bush chose Pamela Harbour to be a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). She was sworn in on August 4, 2003. She served as a commissioner until her term ended in September 2009.

One important moment was in 2007. She was the only commissioner who disagreed with the FTC allowing Google to buy another company called DoubleClick. She was worried about how this would affect people's privacy. She felt Google would collect too much information about users. She even wrote an article in The New York Times about her concerns.

After her term, President Barack Obama appointed Julie Brill to take her place. Pamela Harbour is one of only three African-Americans to have served on the FTC. The others were A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. and Mozelle W. Thompson. She is also one of only three political independents to serve on the commission.

After the FTC

After leaving the FTC in 2010, Pamela Harbour continued her legal career. She became a partner at a law firm called Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. There, she led a group that focused on privacy and data protection.

In 2014, she joined Herbalife Nutrition. She became their Senior Vice President for Global Member Compliance & Privacy. In 2016, she became the company's legal officer.

Personal Life

Pamela Harbour is married to John Harbour. They have three children.

Awards and Recognition

• Women History Makers, Caribbean Chamber of Commerce & Industry, 1998
• Champion of Freedom Award, Electronic Privacy Information Center, 2010
• Spirit of Excellence Award, The American Bar Association Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession, 2019

Published Works

• Harbour, Pamela Jones and Leibowitz, Jon, Subject Line Labeling as a Weapon Against Spam: A CAN-SPAM Report to Congress, DIANE Publishing, 2005, ISBN: 9781428952553

See Also

• List of former FTC commissioners