FTC

Can the FTC ban digital goods?

Can the FTC ban digital goods? Brent Kendall, writing at The Wall Street Journal: The current case is about patents, but the ITC also can take action against goods that infringe copyrights, an issue important to Hollywood and other rights holders. They are eyeing the ITC as a new venue for …

Apple under federal anti-competition scrutiny, again

Apple under federal anti-competition scrutiny, again Micah Singleton writes for The Verge: Sources also indicated that Apple offered to pay YouTube’s music licensing fee to Universal Music Group if the label stopped allowing its songs on YouTube. Apple is seemingly trying to clear a path before its …

Another blow to deceptively marketed "unlimited" data plans

Another blow to deceptively marketed “unlimited” data plans Jon Brodkin at Ars Technica: The FCC's new rules ban throttling except in cases of "reasonable network management." AT&T could argue that the throttling is necessary to keep its network running smoothly, but FCC Chairman …

Federal Trade Commission to data brokers: Show us your data

Federal Trade Commission to data brokers: Show us your dataJessica Guynn of the LA Times: The FTC wants to know what the brokers do with the information. It also wants to know if the data brokers let consumers review and correct their personal information or opt out from having their personal …

$22.5M FTC fine against Google for Safari tracking

$22.5M FTC fine against Google for Safari trackingMichael Liedtke, writing for Associated Press: In the Safari case, Consumer Watchdog argued that the fine amounts to loose change for a company like Google, which generates about $22.5 million in revenue every four hours. It’s a very good deal for …

Supreme Court Will Address Antitrust State Action Exemption

Supreme Court Will Address Antitrust State Action ExemptionSteve Semeraro at the Antitrust & Competition Policy Blog: Government actors are charged with a duty to act in the public interest and thus can generally be trusted to restrain trade only when the public will benefit. Private actors, by …

FTC Publishes Facial Recognition Guidelines

FTC Publishes Facial Recognition GuidelinesCarl Franzen, of TPM Idea Lab: There are two cases where the FTC believes that companies need to get a consumer’s “affirmative express consent,” that is, an “opt-in,” before using information captured via facial recognition: When identifying anonymous …

FTC OKs Facebook’s privacy settlement

FTC OKs Facebook’s privacy settlementTony Romm, writing at Politico: The order means Facebook must now obtain consent before sharing a user’s information with advertisers or others in a way that differs from their current privacy settings, and it bars Facebook from again misrepresenting its privacy …