The Federal Trade Commission’s recent settlement with VIZIO, Inc., may have created a new definition of “sensitive information” that includes viewing data, but the opinion of Acting Chairperson Maureen Ohlhausen may provide further insight on how the agency will act under the new administration.
On February 6, the FTC settled charges with VIZIO, one of
Wages may be stagnant in the United States, but one thing on the rise is the price of getting on the wrong side of the Federal Trade Commission.
Effective August 1, 2016, the maximum civil penalty dollar amount for violating section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, or failing to comply with COPPA or
As publishers increasingly rely on more modern methods of native advertising – that is, ads designed to look and feel similar to a platform’s editorial content – as a source of revenue, the FTC has taken steps to clarify when native advertising may cross the line and become deceptive to consumers. Recently, the FTC published two documents that address the Commission’s position on the use of native advertising – an Enforcement and Policy Statement on Deceptively Formatted Advertisements (“Policy Statement”) and a business guide entitled Native Advertising: A Guide for Business (“Business Guide”). Under the Policy Statement, advertising that misleads consumers in a material respect, including with regard to its commercial nature, is deceptive under section 5 of the FTC Act. Under FTC law, advertisers cannot use “deceptive door openers” to induce consumers to view advertising content. Thus, advertisers are responsible for ensuring that native ads are identifiable as advertising (typically, through some sort of disclosure) before consumers arrive at the main advertising page. In addition, no matter how consumers arrive at advertising content, it must not mislead them about its commercial nature.
Continue Reading The FTC Clarifies Native Advertising Enforcement Guidance
In a landmark decision, an administrative law judge dismissed the FTC’s long-running data security lawsuit against Atlanta-based cancer screening laboratory, LabMD Inc., following an alleged data breach. Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell (the “ALJ”) ruled in his Initial Decision that the FTC had failed to prove that the laboratory’s alleged conduct harmed, or could potentially harm, consumers.
Continue Reading ALJ Dismisses FTC’s Data Security Suit Against LabMD for Failure to Prove ‘Substantial Injury’ to Consumers
Is there a right to be “anonymous” when posting customer reviews? The U.S. Constitution supports “anonymous pamphleteering,” but defamatory speech falls outside of First Amendment protections. So, what is a negative online customer review? Pamphleteering or defamation?
In Yelp! Inc. v. Hadeed Carpet Cleaning, Inc., Hadeed, an owner of a cleaning service believed that negative reviews were authored by a non-customer, so he invoked Virginia’s “unmasking statute” that addresses anonymous communications that may be “tortious or illegal.” Va. Code § 8.01-407.1. He needed to find out who authored the scathing articles on Yelp! So, he subpoenaed Yelp! to produce documents in order to obtain the full name, gender, birthdate, IP address or email address of the authors of the reviews in question.
Continue Reading An Important Customer Review Issue Swept Under the Carpet
When I had Orioles season tickets, I was glad to have access to an electronic platform that would allow me to get rid of most of my unwanted tickets. Over the course of a season, I could get the seats for the games I did want, hedge my bet for playoff tickets, and subsidize those great seats by sharing my seats with others for a reasonable return.
Peer-to-peer sharing services are not limited to sports tickets, obviously. Services like Airbnb, Snapgoods, DogVacay, RelayRides, TaskRabbit, and Zaarly are based on the underlying premise that market forces will support an economy of sharers. Consumers will enjoy the benefits of local goods and services; service providers will enjoy the benefit of exploiting opportunities created by surplus time or personal product inventory; platform operators will use technology to make this economy run and take advantage of the sheer volume of these small, everyday transactions.Continue Reading A Fair Share (Economy)? The FTC Wants Your Input
This post was also written by Frederick Lah.
Earlier this year, we wrote about the FTC’s plan to hold a November 2013 public workshop over concerns with the “Internet of Things,” the dramatically growing capacity of smart devices to communicate information through the Internet. In advance of the workshop, the FTC has entered into a
This post was also written by Caroline Klocko.
Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued Frequently Asked Questions for complying with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The FAQs are intended as a supplement to the already issued compliance materials. As we previously reported, the revised COPPA Rule is set
Today, the Federal Trade Commission released detailed guidance on privacy in the mobile environment – at the same time it announced its largest-ever settlement with an app developer for alleged privacy violations. Combined with aggressive action on mobile privacy issues by the California attorney general’s office, Mobile Privacy Disclosures provides every company associated with
This post was also written by Timothy J. Nagle and Frederick Lah.
Earlier this week, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (“FFIEC”) released its proposed guidance requesting comment on the applicability of consumer protection laws to the social media activities of financial institutions. The guidance addresses the potential risks associated with the use of social