Tag Archives: FTC

The Weekly Privacy Rewind

By Aaron Lancaster on Posted in Weekly Privacy Rewind
Class Actions Google Seeks Dismissal of BIPA Class Action • Google has sought dismissal of a putative class action lawsuit alleging violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). • According to the original complaint, Google allegedly violated BIPA by scanning photos of nonusers uploaded to Google Photos and then “extracting geometric data” of the … Continue Reading

U.S. Senate Duo and California Ballot Initiative Propose to Radically Alter U.S. Consumer Internet Privacy and Upend Digital Advertising

By Alan L. Friel and Njeri Chasseau on Posted in Advertising, Internet of Things, Online Privacy
Amid growing concerns over the improper use of user information and data breaches, and in the same week as the Senate examines the Cambridge Analytica controversy, a duo of U.S. senators who have long advocated for federal consumer privacy legislation seized the moment to propose a bill that would give the Federal Trade Commission (FTC … Continue Reading

Connecting the Dots Between Security Practices and Legal Obligations: California’s Connected Devices Bill

Photo of Carolina AlonsoBy Carolina Alonso and Alan L. Friel on Posted in Internet of Things
Turning on the lights, hearing the weather forecast, learning fun facts, and playing your favorite song in the kitchen are simple when one can give short voice commands to a personal assistant device that is connected to the internet and to other devices in your home. Connected devices are increasingly being used in the home, … Continue Reading

Looking Back: The Federal Trade Commission Issues Annual Data Privacy Report for 2017

By John Busch on Posted in Cybersecurity, Enforcement, News
On Jan. 18, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its Annual Privacy and Data Security Update. The update is helpful to businesses in that it recaps the efforts and areas of involvement the FTC has targeted in the past year as well as guides data protection strategies for 2018. The report provides a detailed … Continue Reading

Bringing Geolocation Into Focus

By Brian P. Bartish on Posted in Mobile Privacy
With another Thanksgiving and another Black Friday having come and gone the holiday shopping season is in full swing yet again. As brick-and-mortar retail continues to experience a decline in favor of more convenient ecommerce options, retailers are increasingly looking for ways to enhance the in-store experience, with more and more looking to drive revenue … Continue Reading

From the Mouths of Babes: FTC Issues COPPA Enforcement Policy Regarding Voice Recordings

Photo of Carolina AlonsoPhoto of Melinda L. McLellanBy Carolina Alonso, Alan L. Friel and Melinda L. McLellan on Posted in Children’s Privacy, Enforcement, Internet of Things, Online Privacy
On October 23, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released new guidance on how the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule may apply to audio recordings of children’s voices collected by websites and online services. Reflecting the FTC’s recent focus on privacy and security concerns related to the Internet of Things (IoT), the nonbinding Enforcement … Continue Reading

Deception and Unfair Practices Come Preinstalled

By Benjamin Barnes and Alan L. Friel on Posted in Internet of Things, Online Privacy
Lenovo, a manufacturer of personal computers, recently agreed, among other things, to implement a software security program in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over issues with third-party software preinstalled on some laptops. The software was later found to have significant security vulnerabilities that put consumers’ personal information at risk. The software created … Continue Reading

FTC Takes Action Against Individual Social Media Influencers

Photo of Stephanie LucasBy Stephanie Lucas on Posted in Social Media
Advertisers’ and brands’ use of social media influencers has continued to grow in importance as brands seek to reach new consumers while marketing to a widespread demographic. Traditionally, influencers are known as people who leverage their social media presence to endorse or promote a brand or product for some form of compensation. As influencers have … Continue Reading

Privacy Shield Update: Ahead of First Joint Review, Europeans Remain Skeptical as FTC Announces Enforcement Actions

Photo of Melinda L. McLellanBy Melinda L. McLellan and Emily R. Fedeles on Posted in Enforcement, International Privacy Law
On September 8, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced enforcement actions against three companies alleged to have falsely claimed participation in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. The move follows several months of uncertainty surrounding the Framework’s future as EU officials and privacy advocates have questioned its efficacy and validity in the run-up to the … Continue Reading

Uber Settles With FTC Over Allegedly Deceptive Privacy And Data Security Practices

By Laura E. Jehl on Posted in Cybersecurity, Enforcement
Uber, the ride-hailing giant, agreed this week to implement a comprehensive privacy program and to undergo 20 years of privacy and data security audits in order to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that Uber did not keep its promises to protect customer data. The FTC had alleged two separate failures by Uber: … Continue Reading

FTC Announces Internal Process Reforms in Connection with Civil Investigative Demands

Photo of May Tal GongolevskyPhoto of Csilla Boga-LofaroBy May Tal Gongolevsky and Csilla Boga-Lofaro on Posted in Enforcement
Has your company or client been served with a Civil Investigative Demand (CID)? Overwhelmed? Don’t despair – the future may be brighter, as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is now offering more clarity regarding its CID document requests process. On July 17, 2017 FTC Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen issued a new internal process reform … Continue Reading

Babies and Baby-making, or Not… Privacy and Security Lessons for the Internet of Things

By Alan L. Friel on Posted in Internet of Things
What do babies, sex toys and wireless head phones have in common? Apparently, the privacy concerns of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), state AGs and legislatures, class action plaintiffs, and consumer advocacy groups, at least when it comes to the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT refers to consumer devices that are connected, directly or … Continue Reading

FTC Nets $500,000 Settlement for Alleged Consent Order Violation Related to Online Data Collection Practices

Photo of Melinda L. McLellanBy Melinda L. McLellan and Kathryn Mellinger on Posted in Big Data, Enforcement, Online Privacy
On March 17, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had reached a $500,000 settlement with Upromise, a membership reward service aimed at families saving for college. The FTC had alleged that Upromise violated a 2012 FTC consent order by failing to make required disclosures about its data collection and use practices and … Continue Reading

Unexpected Consumer Data Collection Concerns FTC

By Alan L. Friel and Benjamin Barnes on Posted in Behavioral Advertising, Big Data, Geolocation, Marketing, Mobile Privacy, Retail Industry
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been turning its attention to consumer data collection and use that consumers may not expect, such as tracking of TV viewing by smart TVs, and use of cross-device technologies and techniques to try to associate users and households to multiple devices (e.g., TVs, mobile phones, tablets, computers, and other … Continue Reading

FTC’s $2.2m Smart TV Settlement Signals Continued IoT Enforcement Focus

Photo of Melinda L. McLellanBy Alan L. Friel and Melinda L. McLellan on Posted in Behavioral Advertising, Big Data, Enforcement, Information Security, Internet of Things, Marketing, Online Privacy
On February 6, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had settled charges against VIZIO, Inc., a consumer electronics manufacturer of Internet-connected televisions. The FTC alleged that VIZIO unfairly tracked sensitive TV viewing data of millions of American consumers, and deceptively failed to disclose how the collected data was being used. This action was … Continue Reading

Latest Data Breach Settlement Illustrates Need for Companies to Prioritize Cybersecurity

By David M. Brown on Posted in Cybersecurity, Data Breaches, Enforcement, Online Privacy, Retail Industry
On Aug. 5, 2016, the New York attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, announced a $100,000 settlement with an e-retailer following an investigation of a data breach that resulted in the potential exposure of more than 25,000 credit card numbers and other personal information. According to the investigation, on Aug. 7, 2014, in an all-too-common scenario, an … Continue Reading

Unanimous FTC Finds LabMD’s Data Security Practices Violated Section 5 of the FTC Act

By Will R. Daugherty and David M. Brown on Posted in Cybersecurity, Enforcement, Medical Privacy, Online Privacy
On July 29, 2016, a unanimous Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) issued its Opinion and Final Order reversing the decision of an administrative law judge (“ALJ”) and holding that LabMD engaged in “unfair” practices in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act because it failed to provide reasonable and appropriate security for personal … Continue Reading

Mobile Ad Co Settles with FTC Over Allegations of Deceptive Geolocation Tracking And Children’s Privacy Violations for $4 Million

By Alan L. Friel and Suchismita Pahi on Posted in Children’s Privacy
On June 22, 2016, mobile advertising company InMobi Private Ltd. settled Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) claims of violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act, and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and Rule (COPPA), for $4 million.  The violations of COPPA supported the monetary penalty since, unlike Section 5, COPPA provides for … Continue Reading

Balancing Innovation With Privacy Concerns: The FTC Provides Comment on the Internet of Things

By Kathryn Mellinger on Posted in Big Data, Online Privacy
On June 3, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) responded to a Request for Comments issued by the Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) regarding the Internet of Things (IoT). The NTIA, which issued its Request for Comments on April 5, 2016, stated that it will use commentary to expand on its … Continue Reading

Mobile Apps That Appeal to Children Face Increased Regulatory Scrutiny

By Alan L. Friel and Daniel Goldberg on Posted in Children’s Privacy, Cybersecurity
In September 2015, the Online Interest-based Advertising Accountability Program (Accountability Program) of the Advertising Self-regulatory Council (ASRC) began enforcing the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) Guidelines for Mobile Advertising (Mobile Guidance) and now the inevitable has happened: the Accountability Program has issued three compliance decisions with mobile app publishers whose apps allegedly failed to comply with … Continue Reading

Internet Service Providers Face New Regulatory Environment in the FCC’s Privacy and Security Proposal

By Alan L. Friel and Suchismita Pahi on Posted in Cybersecurity
On March 31, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) of privacy and security regulations for Internet service providers (ISPs). The NPRM, In The Matter of Protecting the Privacy of Customer of Broadband and Other Telecommunications Service, available here, is intended to apply privacy requirements of the federal Communications … Continue Reading

FTC And ASUS Reach Settlement Over Risk To Consumer Privacy In ASUS-Branded Routers

By Kathryn Mellinger and Suchismita Pahi on Posted in Online Privacy
To date, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has brought over 60 enforcement actions regarding company data security practices, and 2016 is already no different. On February 23, 2016, the FTC and Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer, Inc., settled the FTC’s charges that ASUS-branded wireless routers, which were manufactured for home use and allowed consumers … Continue Reading

FTC Report on Big Data Outlines Usage Limitations Under Federal Law

By Alan L. Friel on Posted in Big Data
On January 6, 2016 the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued the report Big Data: A Tool for Inclusion or Exclusion? Understanding the Issues (“Report”), based on prior workshops and subsequent public comments on Big Data usage. The Report concentrates on data usage, not collection, and the application of current law to such usage, and not … Continue Reading
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