Pamela LeDeyce Jones Harbour (born July 15, 1959) is an American lawyer who served as a member of the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

(FTC) from 2003 to 2009. As of 2021, Harbour is one of just three

African-Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

to have served as a member of the FTC. Additionally, she is one of the just three political independents to serve on the body as of 2017. As a lawyer, she has worked in field of

competition law Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

information privacy Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, contextual information norms, and the legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as dat ...

, and

data security Data security or data protection means protecting digital data, such as those in a database, from destructive forces and from the unwanted actions of unauthorized users, such as a cyberattack or a data breach. Technologies Disk encryption ...

. While a member of the FTC, she was notably the sole commissioner to dissent from the agency's decision to approve

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

's acquisition of

DoubleClick DoubleClick Inc. was an American advertisement company that developed and provided Internet ad serving services from 1995 until its acquisition by Google in March 2008. DoubleClick offered technology products and services that were sold primaril ...

. Harbour currently serves as the Legal Officer and Senior Vice President for Global Member Compliance & Privacy at Herbalife Nutrition.

Early life and education

Pamela LeDeyce Jones was born in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, New York. Her parents, Joseph Jones, Sr. and Verneta G. Jones, owned a

stenography Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''s ...

company. She has one brother, Joseph, Jr. After Jones' family relocated to

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

, she graduated from Guilderland Central High School in 1977. Jones earned her

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

from Indiana University School of Music in 1981. She later obtained her

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 1984.

Career

Office of the New York Attorney General (NYAG)

Harbour's early career included serving in the Office of the

New York Attorney General The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has existed in various forms since 1626, originally established under the Dutch c ...

(NYAG) for 11 years. In October 1996, she became the Deputy Attorney General of the Public Advocacy Division. While employed by the Office, Harbour prosecuted antitrust and consumer protection violations, including national price-fixing conspiracy cases. During this period, Harbour served as lead counsel in multi-state cases. In October 1997, Harbour argued before the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

on behalf of 35 states in State Oil Co. v. Khan, a

resale price maintenance Resale price maintenance (RPM) or, occasionally, retail price maintenance is the practice whereby a manufacturer and its distribution (marketing), distributors agree that the distributors will sell the manufacturer's product at certain prices (re ...

(RPM) case. In 1999, Harbour was appointed Assistant First Deputy Attorney General. After leaving the Office of the NYAG, Harbour worked at Kaye Scholer LLP as an antitrust partner.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

In 2003, Harbour was nominated by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

to replace Sheila F. Anthony, whose term expired in September 2002, as a member of the FTC. On August 4, 2003, Harbour was officially sworn in as a member of the FTC, and would serve in the position until her term expired in September 2009. In 2007, she was the sole commissioner to dissent from the FTC's decision to approve

's acquisition of

. Harbour expressed concerns regarding consumer data privacy. She later wrote an op-ed published by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', noting Google as the "Web's emperor" due to the company's market dominance in data collection. Following the expiration of her term in office, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

appointed Julie Brill to replace her on the FTC. As of 2021, Harbour is one of just three African-Americans to serve on the FTC: The other two were A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. (served from 1962-1964) and Mozelle W. Thompson (served from 1997-2004). No African-Americans have been appointed to serve on the commission since. Additionally, Harbour is one of the just three political independents to have ever served on the body, along with Philip Elman (who served from 1961 to 1970) and Mary Azcuenaga (who served from 1984 to 1998).

Post-FTC career

After Harbour left the FTC in 2010, she became a partner in Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.’s antitrust and competition practice. She was the head of the firm's Privacy, Competition and Data Protection practice group. In October 2014, Harbour was hired by Herbalife Nutrition as Senior Vice President, Global Member Compliance & Privacy. In February 2016, she became the company's legal officer.

Personal life

Harbour is married to John Harbour, and has three children.

Awards

* Women History Makers, Caribbean Chamber of Commerce & Industry, 1998 * Champion of Freedom Award,

Electronic Privacy Information Center The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is an independent nonprofit research center established in 1994 to protect privacy, freedom of expression, and democratic values in the information age. Based in Washington, D.C., their mission i ...

, 2010 * Spirit of Excellence Award, The

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

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,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harbour, Pamela Jones Federal Trade Commission personnel 1959 births Living people Lawyers from Albany, New York 21st-century African-American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers American women lawyers Antitrust lawyers 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American lawyers African-American women lawyers 20th-century African-American women