The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a press release on August 29, 2016, indicating that it is seeking comments on the Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information, applicable to financial institutions....more
Not surprisingly, on August 30, 2016, LabMD filed its Application for a Stay of the Final Order of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) pending review of the order by the appellate court. But since the matter is still pending...more
9/2/2016
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
LabMD ,
PHI ,
Section 5 ,
Stays ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
On August 16, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the final order resolving its privacy complaints against Practice Fusion. The complaint alleged that Practice Fusion “misled consumers by soliciting reviews for...more
Back in November 2015, Chief Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) D. Michael Chappell ruled that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) failed to show that LabMD, Inc.’s (LabMD) data security practices caused harm to consumers stemming...more
8/8/2016
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Breach ,
LabMD ,
PHI ,
Reversal ,
Section 5 ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
We previously reported that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had entered into a proposed settlement with ASUSTek Computer, Inc. in February of 2016. The allegations against ASUS were that it failed to take reasonable steps...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued an alert this week reminding businesses that the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) amendments that went into effect in November of 2015, prohibit telemarketers from using three types of...more
Cloud-based electronic medical record (EMR) company Practice Fusion has agreed to settle an enforcement action with the FTC that alleges that it misled consumers when it solicited reviews of their doctors. The FTC alleges...more
I have commented before on the use of location based services on mobile telephones and that apps (and your telecommunications provider) use and sell your location data for all sorts of purposes without your knowledge. The...more
5/6/2016
/ Advertising ,
Billboards ,
Clear Channel ,
Data Collection ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Geolocation ,
Location Data ,
Location Privacy ,
Mobile Apps ,
Mobile Devices ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Tracking Systems ,
Vehicle Tracking
While attending the International Association of Privacy Professionals annual global event, and listening to Chairwoman Edith Ramirez discuss the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) concerns about consumer privacy, the FTC, the...more
4/8/2016
/ App Developers ,
Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Mobile Apps ,
Mobile Health Apps ,
OCR ,
ONC ,
PHI ,
Privacy Concerns
In a sign of increased cross-border cooperation for enforcement purposes, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications...more
Most people don’t think about the microphone on their mobile phone unless it isn’t working. Most people don’t know that if it is on, it is working all of the time and is capturing private data that it has access to....more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in collaboration with over 100 governmental, not for profit and private entities, is spearheading National Consumer Protection week, March 6-12, in an effort to educate consumers about...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in collaboration with over 100 governmental, not for profit and private entities, is spearheading National Consumer Protection week, March 6-12, in an effort to educate consumers about...more
ASUS TeK Computer, Inc. (ASUS) has agreed to settle with the FTC over allegations that “critical security flaws in its routers put the home networks of hundreds of thousands of consumers at risk.” The FTC further alleges that...more
The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against Butterfly Labs, alleging that it charged customers for Bitcoin mining machines (“BitForce”), and then failed to deliver them until they “were practically useless, or in...more
I am fortunate to teach the Privacy Law class at Roger Williams University School of Law on Tuesday afternoons. Yesterday, we discussed all of the laws relating to the financial services industry. OK, not the most exciting...more
On February 5, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it has agreed to settle its case against Vulcun alleging that it “unfairly replaced a popular web browser game with a program that installed applications...more
As one who is frequently asked “What happens when I become the victim of identity theft?” or “How do I prevent myself from becoming the victim of identity theft?”, I am a pretty big fan of the FTC’s website and refer people...more
The U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Commission announced on Tuesday that they have entered into a new transatlantic safe harbor transfer agreement, which comes two days after the deadline set by EU data...more
The FTC filed suit against Devry University on January 27th, alleging that its ads, stating that 90 percent of its graduates obtained jobs in their field of study, and were making 15 percent more than graduates from other...more
Data analytics are getting more sophisticated and are being used in every industry. The more data in the world, the more it can be analyzed—it’s dubbed “big data.” In that context, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on January 5, 2016, that it has agreed to settle an investigation with Henry Schein Practice Solutions, Inc. (Schein), an office management software provider for dental practices...more
We previously reported that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lost its case against LabMD alleging that LabMD had inadequate security measures to prevent an alleged data breach....more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it has settled an investigation with Oracle over the software Java SE, which reportedly has been installed on over 850 million computers.
According to the FTC’s press...more
It is frustrating for citizens to continue to watch state and federal governmental agencies announcing massive data breaches of citizens’ personal information. Here is another one.
On Tuesday, December 15, 2015, the...more