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The terms of an FTC settlement apply just to that business, of course. But clued-in companies know there’s a lot that can be learned from someone else’s alleged misstep. The FTC’s law enforcement action against Upromise is no exception. According to the complaint, the college savings membership program introduced a toolbar that collected users’ personal information without adequately disclosing the extent of what was going on. Under the terms of...

When the FTC brings a law enforcement action, we hope companies take notice. But sometimes there’s a nugget or two that businesses can glean from a decision by the FTC staff to close an investigation. A recent letter from the staff of the Bureau of Consumer Protection to Hyundai Motor America ticks a lot of timely boxes — bloggers, the Super Bowl, and the FTC’s Endorsement Guides — and is worth a read if your company has added social media to...

The FTC v. Lane Labs story started with shark cartilage and the latest chapter involves a contempt ruling from a federal judge. If the FTC’s advertising substantiation doctrine is relevant to your company or your clients — and it should be — you’ll want to keep tabs on the case. The FTC’s original action challenged allegedly deceptive anti-cancer claims for two products: BeneFin, a shark cartilage supplement, and SkinAnswer, a skin cream. In...

As anyone who’s watched TV in the past decade knows, Kevin Trudeau is — to use the term coined by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit — an “infomercialist.” The Seventh Circuit’s recent opinion in FTC v. Trudeau offers interesting insights into order enforcement and upholds a multimillion dollar judgment for consumers. A little history: As the Court recapped, Mr. Trudeau violated the terms of a court-approved settlement...

The terms of the FTC’s proposed settlement apply only to Facebook. But to paraphrase noted legal scholar Bob Dylan, companies that want to stay off the law enforcement radar don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. What practical pointers can your business take from the Facebook case and other recent FTC actions dealing with consumer privacy? 1) Promises, promises. Not making any privacy promises? Think again. Reread your privacy...

The FTC’s complaint against Facebook outlines eight separate areas where the FTC says Facebook’s privacy practices were deceptive or unfair. What provisions does the proposed order put in place to protect people in the future? One key provision is a broad ban on deception. Facebook can’t misrepresent the privacy or security protections that apply to any “covered information.” The order defines that as information “from or about” an individual...

When it comes to privacy promises, what you say you do with people’s personal information has to line up with your day-to-day practices. That’s the message of the FTC’s proposed settlement announced today with Facebook. Where did the company go wrong? The FTC’s 8-count complaint alleges a number of different violations, but they boil down to this: Facebook’s privacy practices often flew in the face of its stated policies and, as one count alleges...

It billed itself as “Facebook and Myspace for kids,” but according to a settlement with the FTC, the Skid-e-Kids website failed to meet critical compliance obligations under COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. As a result, the FTC says the site collected personal information from about 5,600 kids without their parents’ consent. Under COPPA and the FTC’s COPPA Rule, website operators like Skid-e-Kids have to notify parents and get...

In celebration of Halloween — and with apologies to Edgar Allen Poe — here’s our take on what companies can do to make sure spooky business practices don’t come back to haunt them. Once upon a midnight lawful Pondering practices, good and awful, Reading through the U.S. Code For dos and don’ts I parse and claw. I came upon the Trade Commission’s Section 5 with all revisions. “Tell the truth”: Its admonition. It’s no defense to hem and haw...

Between the picture of the President and Vice-President standing in front of the American flag and the references to government funds to stabilize the economy, it’s understandable that people who signed up for the service advertised on the Grant Connect website thought they were on their way to landing a grant. Promoters even described Grant Connect as “a unique, consumer-friendly US government grant program that delivers all of the tools for the...