On July 23 and 24, 2025, the Trump administration released its “Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan,” a far-reaching strategy aimed at advancing U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence. ...more
8/4/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Executive Orders ,
Export Controls ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Procurement Systems ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
NIST ,
OMB ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Trump Administration
On Tuesday, July 8, the Eighth Circuit struck down the Federal Trade Commission’s new “click-to-cancel” rule just days before the FTC planned to begin enforcement on July 14, 2025. ...more
On January 16, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finalized amendments to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule (Final Rule), which completes the process that started back in 2019 when the FTC sought...more
1/23/2025
/ Advertising to Minors ,
Amended Legislation ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
COPPA ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Retention ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Minors ,
Online Platforms ,
Personal Data ,
Personal Information ,
Privacy Laws ,
Privacy Notice Rule
Enacted in 1996, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is the nation’s longest standing and most comprehensive statute aimed at regulating the collection, use and sharing of the personal information of...more
On August 14, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) entered a stipulated settlement with Experian Consumer Services to resolve allegations that Experian violated the Controlling the...more
In an effort to “combat the online sale of stolen, counterfeit, and dangerous consumer products,” Congress passed the Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers Act (the “INFORM...more
The FTC recently published a policy statement with its enforcement priorities for the misuse of biometric information. To be clear, there are no new federal laws that specifically regulate the collection or use of biometric...more
5/30/2023
/ Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Employees ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Independent Contractors ,
Policy Statement ,
Section 5 ,
State Privacy Laws
The proliferation of health apps and connected devices that allow individuals to track their health conditions, treatment, medications, fitness, fertility, sleep, mental health, diet and other vital areas has led to increased...more
3/30/2023
/ Advertising ,
Breach Notification Rule ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Data Collection ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Health Technology ,
HIPAA Privacy Rule ,
Medical Devices ,
OCR ,
PHI ,
Popular
On March 22, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a request for information (RFI) seeking public comments on business practices in the cloud computing industry. The RFI focuses on three intertwined aspects of...more
3/30/2023
/ Cloud Computing ,
Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) ,
Competition ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Security ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Investigations ,
Microsoft ,
Request For Information ,
Technology Sector
On December 19, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement with Epic Games Inc. (Epic) over its wildly popular game “Fortnite.” The settlement requires Epic to pay $275 million in penalties to resolve...more
1/11/2023
/ Best Practices ,
COPPA ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Online Gaming ,
Online Safety for Children ,
Personal Information ,
Risk Management
Will the FTC be the new vanguard for federal privacy laws about consumer data? The agency has expressed broad concerns about data handling, including lax data security, harm to children, discrimination and retaliation against...more
On October 28, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission issued a new Enforcement Policy Statement (the Statement) warning companies against using “dark patterns” in negative option marketing. “Dark patterns” is a broad term that...more
On October 13, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent a Notice of Penalty Offenses to more than 700 businesses, including top consumer brands, retailers, e-commerce platforms and advertising agencies, regarding...more
10/22/2021
/ Advertising ,
Brand ,
Compliance ,
Disclosure ,
E-Commerce ,
Endorsements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Guidance Update ,
IP Litigation ,
Marketing ,
Notice of Violation ,
Testimonial Statements ,
Third-Party
The Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) was a landmark law enacted to regulate content on the internet. The purpose of the legislation was to regulate indecent and obscene material online, but it is most relevant today...more
5/28/2021
/ Appeals ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet ,
Liability ,
Online Platforms ,
PACT Act ,
SAFE Act ,
Section 230 ,
Social Media ,
Third-Party
On September 4, 2019, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced Google and YouTube will pay a record $170 million as part of a settlement over allegations that YouTube violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act...more
9/23/2019
/ Communications Decency Act ,
COPPA ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Google ,
Mobile Apps ,
Online Advertisements ,
Online Safety for Children ,
Parental Consent ,
User-Generated Content ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites ,
YouTube
The Federal Trade Commission is putting more teeth into the multiyear compliance obligations of consent orders it enters into with companies to settle enforcement actions related to data breaches. The FTC recently issued a...more
5/30/2019
/ Best Practices ,
Consent Order ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Information Security ,
Personal Data ,
Risk Management ,
Security Risk Assessments ,
Vendor Contacts
On February 27, 2019, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced a record-setting $5.7 million fine to popular short-form video sharing platform TikTok, formerly known as Musical.ly, as part of a consent order over...more
3/12/2019
/ COPPA ,
Data Collection ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Mergers ,
Online Safety for Children ,
Parental Consent ,
Privacy Policy ,
Website Owner Liability
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on June 6 issued its long-awaited decision in LabMD v. Federal Trade Commission, vacating a Federal Trade Commission cease and desist order directing LabMD to overhaul its...more
7/5/2018
/ Appeals ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
LabMD ,
Popular ,
Reversal ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
The Federal Trade Commission on Jan. 8 announced its first settlement of alleged violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act arising from internet-connected toys. The FTC complaint against VTech followed the...more
1/24/2018
/ Children's Products ,
Children's Toys ,
Connected Items ,
COPPA ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Data Security ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet of Things ,
Online Safety for Children ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Settlement
The Federal Trade Commission on October 23, 2017, provided guidance on how it will enforce the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) with respect to audio recordings of children. This comes as part of a wave of...more
11/17/2017
/ App Developers ,
Audio Recording ,
Children's Toys ,
COPPA ,
Data Collection ,
Data Protection ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Internet ,
Mobile Apps ,
Parental Consent ,
Popular ,
Risk Management ,
Smart Devices ,
Websites
Last week, three commissioners from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held in In the Matter of LabMD, Inc. that a company’s failure to implement reasonable security measures to protect sensitive consumer information on its...more
8/3/2016
/ Actual Injuries ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Breach ,
LabMD ,
p2p ,
PHI ,
Popular ,
Section 5 ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
Earlier this week, the European Commission voted to formally approve the Privacy Shield—a set of principles agreed between the E.U. and the U.S. to enable certified U.S. companies to receive and process personal data from the...more
7/15/2016
/ Article 29 Working Party (WP29) ,
Data Protection Authority ,
EU ,
EU-US Privacy Shield ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
International Data Transfers ,
Judicial Redress Act ,
Model Contract Clauses ,
Personal Data ,
Surveillance ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
US-EU Safe Harbor Framework
The October 6, 2015, decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the Schrems v. Facebook case left significant uncertainty surrounding the legality and practicality of U.S. technology companies’ ability to...more
In a closely-watched cybersecurity case, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held in Federal Trade Commission v. Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (No. 14-3514) that the Federal Trade Commission...more
9/1/2015
/ Administrative Authority ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Fair Notice ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
FTC v Wyndham ,
Popular ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Wyndham
On August 1, 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a report entitled What’s the Deal? An FTC Study on Mobile Shopping Apps (the FTC Report). The FTC Report is based on a study the FTC conducted (the FTC Study) to...more