On June 29, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it had approved a final order resolving the complaint against Vipvape, a manufacturer of hand-held vaporizers. The complaint alleged Vipvape misrepresented its practices on the website related to Vipvape’s participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) system when, if fact, Vipvape […]
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
InMobi to Pay $950,000 to Settle FTC Charges that it Secretly Tracked Phone Users
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that InMobi, a Singapore-based mobile advertising company whose products are used by many Android and iOS app makers to deliver advertisements to consumers, will pay $950,000 in civil penalties and implement a comprehensive privacy program to settle FTC charges for deceptively tracking the locations of hundreds of millions of […]
Administration Seeks to Renegotiate Controversial Cybersecurity Export Control
The Obama administration will reportedly seek to renegotiate a controversial cybersecurity export control rule required to be implemented into U.S. regulations by the Commerce Department under the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies. The Wassenaar Arrangement is based on a multilateral agreement reached by the founding countries in […]
FTC Updates IdentityTheft.gov Website
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced updates to the IdentityTheft.gov website aimed at making the site more useful to victims of identity theft. The changes will enable consumers to quickly file complaints and develop a personalized recovery plan after answering a number of questions on the site. “Our hope is that this is going […]
Big Data: FTC Issues Report Cautioning that Use of Big Data may Violate Federal Consumer Protection Laws or Raise Ethical Considerations
On January 6, the FTC issued a report on the commercial use of big data, Big Data: A Tool for Inclusion or Exclusion? Understanding the Issues, summarizing the results of a September 2014 workshop and numerous public comments, including a paper and workshop comments by Alston & Bird Senior Counsel Peter Swire. The report addresses […]