Business Blog

Mobile devices are changing how people go about their daily lives, and that includes how they pay for stuff. As announced in January, the FTC is hosting a workshop on April 26, 2012, to examine the use of mobile payments in the marketplace and their effects on consumers. The workshop — which will be held at the FTC’s Conference Center at 601 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., in Washington, D.C. — is free and open to the public.  The agenda is now available.

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.

Tough federal and state law enforcement has turned up the heat on mortgage foreclosure rescue scams.  So some operators are turning to auto loan modifications to make a fast buck on consumers in financial distress.  In the first cases of their kind filed by the FTC, the agency is alleging that two unrelated California outfits charged hundreds of dollars in upfront fees, based on bogus claims they could reduce consumers’ monthly car notes and help them avoid The Repo Man.

There are lots of good reasons for businesses to comply with the National Do Not Call Registry:  It ensures your marketing message will be heard by a more receptive audience and it protects your company from the ire of consumers who don’t want to be disturbed.  But in a case involving calls pitching "free" government grants, a federal judge in Rochester, New York, just added 30 million more reasons not to call people on the list.

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.

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.

If you have clients in the auto industry, you’ve seen the ads:  “We’ll pay off your trade no matter what you owe . . . even if you’re upside down.” It’s an attractive claim to people struggling with their finances. But law enforcement settlements announced by the FTC with five dealers from around the country demonstrate the importance of giving people the straight story when making promises about trade-ins where negative equity is involved.

It’s helpful when advertisers can get a window into the FTC’s thinking about certain ad claims — and five recent settlements with companies that sell replacement windows offer just that.

According to the FTC, the businesses made exaggerated and unsupported representations about the energy efficiency of their windows, and about how much money people could save on their heating and cooling bills by having them installed. What did the ads say? Things like:

For some, a discussion of childhood and technology brings back fond memories of Easy Bake Ovens and Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. But like their parents, these kids today (Didn’t we swear we’d never use the phrase "these kids today"?) are embracing the opportunities presented by smartphones, tablets, and the burgeoning app market. But what about the privacy considerations when children and teens use apps?