On January 16, 2025, the FTC announced a proposed complaint and consent agreement with one of the largest hosting companies in the world: GoDaddy. According to the complaint, the FTC found GoDaddy’s security practices “unreasonable for a company of its
On January 16, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced significant amendments to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule after a comprehensive review that began in 2019. This marks the first major update since 2013 and represents a
On January 18, 2024, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced a complaint and proposed consent order with InMarket Media, LLC, a digital marketing platform and data aggregator. Less than two weeks later, on February 1, the FTC announced a complaint
Under the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) new amendment to the Safeguards Rule (the “Amended Rule”), non-banking financial institutions will have to report certain data breaches and other security events to the agency.
Requirements
Approved on October 27, 2023 by a
On July 20, 2023 HHS and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a joint letter to approximately 130 companies regarding their online data collection processes. The letter follows the much discussed December 1, 2022, Bulletin that expanded the kinds of
We had previously written about an FTC proposed consent order that would prohibit a company from perpetual retention of personal health information. On March 2, 2023, the FTC announced a complaint and proposed consent with BetterHelp, Inc. that would prohibit
A third regulator has recently entered into a proposed consent that includes a $500,000 fine based in part on a company’s over-retention of personal data for longer than it was needed. The first regulator was the French data protection authority, the CNIL, in 2021, which we wrote about here. The second regulator was the New York Attorney General in January of 2022, which we described here. And the third is the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which issued a proposed consent with the current and former owners of CafePress on March 15.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Federal Trade Commission and Facebook reached a settlement to resolve Facebook’s privacy issues.
On April 30, 2018, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released for public comment an administrative complaint and proposed consent agreement with mobile phone manufacturer BLU Products Inc. and its owner and president. Although the FTC has entered into many settlements relating to privacy and data security, this proposed settlement is particularly noteworthy for two reasons: (1) the FTC allegation that a company’s failure to implement appropriate security procedures to oversee a vendor’s security practices (including a lack of vendor due diligence) can violate Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act; and (2) the proposed remedy includes a separate notice and affirmative opt-in consent relating to collection, use, and sharing of certain consumer information. BLU does not admit or deny any of the FTC’s allegations.
Illegal robocalls are a “scourge.” So says FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, and most consumers likely agree. Both the FCC and the FTC (each of which has jurisdiction over some aspects of telemarketing regulation) are actively pursuing ways to curb illegal and fraudulent robocalls. The FCC issued a report and order in November 2017 authorizing telecommunications providers to block certain types of calls considered “highly likely to be illegitimate.” In late January 2018, the FTC responded with a staff letter expressing support for the FCC’s efforts and offering suggestions for addressing erroneously blocked calls.