When the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) actually has guidelines concerning the use of a particular word, that would suggest caution in using that word. In this case, the word is “Free” and the FTC has guidelines concerning its usage which boils down to one sentence – “free” should mean “free”. Anyone watching this year’s exciting…
InMobi, the mobile ad platform that Fast Company recently ranked as 15th among The World’s Most Innovative Companies, has a new trophy – an FTC Consent decree and a $4 million civil penalty (all but $950,000 was suspended). According to the Federal Trade Commission complaint, even if a consumer had denied access to the location API on their…
In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission updated its endorsement guidelines to, among other things, include bloggers. In 2013 it updated its DotCom Disclosure guidelines to address social media. It issued numerous warnings before finally cracking down in 2015 in the AmeriFreight matter. For the past several years, the Federal Trade Commission expressed increasing concern over the use…
One hundred years ago, President Wilson signed the “Federal Trade Commission Act” into law. The Act provided: (1) Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful. (2) The Commission is hereby empowered and directed to prevent persons, partnerships, or corporations…
FTC Wins Important Victory in Wyndham Wyndham Hotels and Resorts has lost round one in its assault on the FTC’s authority to regulate data security. Wyndham had challenged the FTC’s authority to bring a complaint for unfair and deceptive practices “in connection with Defendants’ failure to maintain reasonable and appropriate data security for consumers’ sensitive personal information.” The FTC had cited Wyndham because…
Mobile App Vulnerability Leads to Consent Decree Fandango and Credit Karma have agreed to consent decrees with the FTC to settle charges that they misrepresented the security of their mobile apps and failed to secure the transmission of millions of consumers’ sensitive personal information from their mobile apps. The FTC alleged that, despite their security…
FTC Watch 2014 Priorities, Enforcement Update and the Battle over Cyber Security When FTC Chair Ramirez tapped Jessica Rich to head the Consumer Protection Bureau, AdWeek noted: Rich’s appointment signals the agency will likely be aggressive in shaping privacy policy and bringing privacy enforcement actions, a goal Ramirez articulated in her first public appearance in early March.…
Spotlight Falls on Patent Trolls and Junk Patents One of Silicon Valley’s top legislative priorities has been addressing patent trolls. In the last few days there have been major developments on this front in both Washington and at the State level. States Declare Troll-Hunting Season The first shot in the battle over trolls was fired…
FTC Pushes Forward on Native Advertising Examination In June, the FTC sent letters to search engines instructing them to clarify how they display ads within search results since “the features traditional search engines use to differentiate advertising from natural search results have become less noticeable to consumers, especially for advertising located immediately above the natural results.” They…
A New Jersey federal court is currently reviewing Wyndham Hotels motion to dismiss the FTC’s complaint against it for violating the FTC Act by having insufficient security and not abiding by the standards set in its privacy policy. The FTC Act is quite broad and permits the FTC to regulate items that are “unfair or…
ROBERT ELLIS SMITH RETURNS TO CLBR TO DISCUSS PRIVACY AND MOBILE APPS With California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ enforcement action filed against Delta for its lack of privacy policy for its mobile app and the FTC indicating that it is investigating mobile compliance with children’s privacy protections, mobile privacy has become the hot domestic internet…
FTC Cracks Down on Senders of Spam Text Messages Promoting “Free” Gift Cards Defendants Were Responsible for More than 180 Million Spam Text Messages The Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on affiliate marketers that allegedly bombarded consumers with hundreds of millions of unwanted spam text messages in an effort to steer them towards deceptive…
FTC PRESS RELEASE FTC Staff Revises Online Advertising Disclosure Guidelines “Dot Com Disclosures” Guidance Updated to Address Current Online and Mobile Advertising Environment The Federal Trade Commission today released new guidance for mobile and other online advertisers that explains how to make disclosures clear and conspicuous to avoid deception. Updating guidance known as Dot Com Disclosures, which was…
OBAMA LOOKS WEST FOR NEW FTC CHAIR On Monday, FTC Commissioner Edith Ramirez takes over as FTC Chairwoman. Ramirez, a law school classmate of the President and former partner at the Los Angeles office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, is the FTC’s first Latina chair. She previously has expressed strong interest in privacy stressing that she…
CONGRATS TO CHUCK HARWOOD ON PROMOTION TO HEAD OF FTC CONSUMER PROTECTION BUREAU From FTC Release: Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz announced that David C. Vladeck, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, is leaving the agency on December 31 to return to a faculty position at Georgetown University Law Center, and that…
Cyber Report 