federal trade commission

The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it settled charges against a health billing company and its former CEO that they misled consumers who had signed up for their online…
Continue Reading Billing Company Settles FTC Charges That It Misled Consumers Regarding Health Data Collection

On Tuesday, April 22nd, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it has updated its “Complying with COPPA: Frequently Asked Questions: A Guide for Business and Parents and Small Entity Compliance Guide” to address consent for the collection of student information. …
Continue Reading FTC Updates COPPA FAQs to Address Student Privacy Issues

The FTCannounced yesterday a settlement with Epic Marketplace, an online advertising network, which prohibits Epic from further collection of data obtained by “browser sniffing” the surfing history of Internet users and requires Epic to destroy all previously collected data. The FTC did NOT ban “browser sniffing.”…
Continue Reading FTC “History Sniffing” Settlement Meaningless or the Start of Something Bigger

According to a press release issued yesterday, November 29, 2011, by the Federal Trade Commission, Facebook settled charges that Facebook “deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public.”…
Continue Reading FTC Settles With Facebook, Agrees to Whopping 20-Year Consent Order

A standing room meeting organized by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in Washington on Monday, December 7th, highlighted a crucial divide in the discussion over the regulation of online privacy. The New York Times provides an excellent summary of the mainstream newsworthy aspects of the meeting.

While the take away may be that the FTC is taking a more serious look at online privacy and net neutrality, the reality is that any oversight is not going to happen anytime soon. Not anytime soon as in years, if ever. Policy making as the solution is not going to address any immediate concerns or problems.

What may be of more interest is the deep divide between the parties with a vested interest in the outcome of the discussion, namely, the consumer/consumer advocates and parties making money from information that may one day be regulated.
Continue Reading Online Privacy Regulation Comes Front and Center at FTC, and Will Quickly Fade