Archives

FTC Enforcement : Gateway Learning

Under the Federal Trade Commission Act, the FTC has the authority to take enforcement actions for the use of “unfair trade practices.” In 2004, the FTC used the fairness principle to enforce privacy law for the first time by launching a case against the Gateway Learning company, owner of the popular “Hooked on Phonics” product [...]

COPPA: The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act was passed in 1998 by the FTC to protect the personal information of children. It specifically applies to websites that target children and provides guidelines for the collection, use and disclosure of personally identifiable information of children under the age of 13 who may not understand the dangers of disclosing personal information on the [...]

Choice and Consent

The development of information privacy and data protection laws has sought to give data subjects greater control over their personal information. The concepts of choice and consent have been key to granting data subjects such control by allowing them the opportunity to make informed choices regarding who has access to their information and how it may be [...]

Safe Harbor Compliance

Safe Harbor is an advantageous agreement between the United States and the European Union that governs the protection of data during transfer from the E.U. to the U.S. American companies wishing to do business with companies in the E.U. may receive certification, stating they have implemented data protection principles that are similar and equal to those of the E.U. Data Protection Directive, and are then allowed unrestricted data transfers with entities in the E.U. Recently, the FTC– the U.S. body governing enforcement of Safe Harbor– has begun to crack down on U.S. companies claiming Safe Harbor compliance, but failing to implement the required protection standards. Multi-national companies must now take a strong look at their privacy policies and notices to ensure they are Safe Harbor compliant and avoid Federal [...]

Proposed bill shows State's Rights sometimes fall to bad federal legislation

Proposed legislation H.R. 2221 by Illinois Representative Rush seeks to preempts more restrictive privacy laws on the books in several states. While the Data Accountability and Trust Act handles several important information privacy issues, the State’s Rights infringement could hurt citizens’ [...]

Federal Trade Commission to target EULAs

Even though most software and service providers are legitimately creating EULAs without deceptive intent, they are difficult to understand for the typical consumer. Then there are those that simply aren’t cooperating. Is it time to limit the “legal-ese” and construct simple, plain language [...]

FTC Issues Behavioral Advertising Guidelines

Last week, the FTC provided guidance for online advertising. Most regulatory agencies issue guidelines as a precursor for regulations. The consensus is that the self regulation within the online advertising community is not [...]

Federal Trade Commission looks at DRM

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) looks toward the Privacy Professional community for a town hall workshop discussion of the Digital Rights Management (DRM). The FTC will accept comments and research until February 9th, [...]

COPPA – The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act was passed in 1998 by the FTC to protect the personal information of children. It specifically applies to websites that target children and provides guidelines for the collection, use and disclosure of personally identifiable information of children under the age of 13 who may not understand the dangers of disclosing personal information on the [...]

Consumer Protection Laws: States trump Federal

Federal consumer protection laws serve as a baseline for states to follow. The Supreme Court upheld Maine’s cigarette labeling law as appropriate. The CIPP emphasizes this topic [...]