Blog

According to the FTC, Skechers made false and deceptive claims about the benefits of Shape-ups and other Skechers brands. If you’re in the fitness or health business, the $40 million settlement should grab your attention. But the underlying principles apply to all advertisers. If you're looking to get a leg up on substantiation, here are some footnotes to take from the case. Proving ground. To support their representations, advertisers must have...

The terms of FTC law enforcement actions apply just to the company in question and the proposed settlement with social network Myspace for alleged privacy-related glitches is no exception. But how should other businesses respond? Some will scan the headline to make sure their company isn’t named and then do that fingers-in-the-ears la-la-la thing. But savvy executives know that understanding where another company might have gone wrong is a good...

Social network site Myspace promised users it wouldn’t share their personally identifiable information in a way that was inconsistent with the reason people provided the info, without first notifying them and getting their approval. The company also said that information used to customize ads wouldn’t identify people to third parties and that Myspace wouldn’t share browsing activity that wasn’t anonymous. But according to a lawsuit filed by the...

Have you reviewed your company’s privacy policy lately? The FTC’s proposed settlement with social network Myspace serves as a timely reminder to make sure what you tell people about your privacy practices lines up with what actually happens in the day-to-day operation of your business. While you’re at it, double-check to make sure you’re giving customers the straight story about third-party access to their information. The Myspace case is the...

With a company name like Broadway Global Master, you might expect high kicks and jazz hands. The defendants told a dramatic story, all right — but according to the FTC, it was a harrowing tale of intimidation. The FTC’s lawsuit alleges the defendants collected “phantom” debts that people didn’t owe them or didn’t owe at all. Often claiming to be American law enforcement officials — like “Officer Mike Johnson" or a representative of the “Federal...

Are there hotter topics these days than data security and kids’ privacy? An FTC law enforcement settlement with the social networking site RockYou ticks both of those topical boxes and challenges a course of conduct the FTC says made it easier for hackers to access the personal information of 32 million users. The complaint also alleges the company collected info from kids in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. What was...

Through a series of recent law enforcement actions, the FTC has articulated what should be apparent: that truth-in-advertising principles apply to affiliate marketers and to the companies that use them to promote their products. A settlement announced today by the FTC makes a similarly obvious point: The law applies to affiliate marketing networks, too. According to the FTC’s complaint against IMM Interactive — people may know it as Copeac — the...

If you or your clients work in the multi-level marketing (MLM) arena, a decision by a federal judge in the FTC's lawsuit against BurnLounge, Inc., merits your attention. The defendants — the company, the CEO, and top salesmen — used claims of hefty profits to sell opportunities to run online digital music stores. According to the FTC, the outfit masqueraded as a legitimate MLM program, but really was an illegal pyramid scheme. After a nine-day...