Mobile may still be an emerging platform, but that's precisely why the FTC doesn't want it to become the Wild West.

"We believe in self-regulation, but we are going to police the wireless space," FTC commissioner Jonathan Liebowitz said at the start of a two-day conference on mobile devices.

According to Liebowitz, the FTC is particularly concerned with the use of mobile to reach young children and teens.

The FTC is also expected to ramp up efforts to protect user privacy on mobile devices, in part because the agency seemed to be behind the times during the early phases of online advertising.

The FTC's statements come at a time when online advertising giants like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are quickly jockeying for position in the mobile space, which has seen a slew of new advertisers ranging from the Catholic Church to Nokia.