U.S. President Barack Obama is set to appoint Jon Leibowitz as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission as announced by an administration official, Bloomberg reported. The appointment could be announced as early as today and does not require Senate confirmation, as Leibowitz is an existing member of the commission.

Democrat Leibowitz is seen as a more aggressive enforcer of FTC regulations, the government agency aimed at consumer protection and promotion of competition. This approach is evident in his history of dissent from commission orders, advocating harsher civil penalties and remedies in order to ensure competition, according to the Bloomberg report.

Leibowitz has also been a vocal critic of online behavioural marketing. He has expressed concern over companies having an unrestricted collection of private consumer information, especially those of children and adolescents. Ultimately, he questioned the legality of the potential sale of these online consumer profiles.

Last week Leibowitz stressed that online marketers must take a more assertive approach to self regulation in order to avoid legislative governmental interference.

"Put simply, this could be the last clear chance to show that self-regulation can - and will - effectively protect consumer privacy in a dynamic online marketplace," Leibowitz said in a statement accompanying an FTC behavioural-piracy review, Advertising Age reported.

The announcement has proved popular with civil liberties groups.

"Leibowitz will help transform what has been a largely anemic regulatory watchdog during the Bush years into an agency that sees its first priority as consumer protection," Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a liberal group that advocates for more regulation, told Ad Age.