FTC

Rockefeller Seeks NTIA Help in Delaying Domain Name Increase

Stevie Converse — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:42:57 -0500

Full article: Broadcasting & Cable
John Eggerton
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) says the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is not taking the slow and steady approach to expanding generic top level domain names, which could have "adverse consequences" for consumers, companies and nonprofits.

FTC Slaps Facebook's Hand over Privacy Deception

Lindsy Embree — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:11:44 -0500

Full article: Wired
David Kravets
Facebook is settling government charges it "deceived" users that their information would be kept private, although it was "repeatedly" shared with the public, the Federal Trade Commission announced.

FrostWire Settles with FTC over Privacy Default Settings

Lindsy Embree — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:42:30 -0400

Full article: MediaPost
Wendy Davis
In what appears to be the first case of its kind, the Federal Trade Commission has brought an enforcement action against a mobile app developer for offering a product with "unfair" privacy default settings. FrostWire agreed to change the default settings so that its app will not share users' files without their permission. The company also promised it is rolling out a fix for people who installed older versions of the software.

FTC Commissioner Calls for New 'Do Not Track' Approach

Lindsy Embree — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:13:22 -0400

Full article: CNet
Declan McCullagh
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission should take a different approach to "do not track" that would involve investigating online advertising, and then perhaps regulating it, a FTC commissioner said.

Is the FTC Going After Twitter for Bulldozing Its Ecosystem?

Lindsy Embree — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:11:54 -0400

Full article: GigaOM
Mathew Ingram
According to news reports, the Federal Trade Commission is looking into Twitter's business practices -- and specifically, the way it has dealt with third-party developers whose products and services rely on the Twitter platform. Although the news doesn't necessarily mean Twitter is under official investigation, it means the company's behavior must have raised enough critical flags to catch the regulator's attention, which is rarely good.

Will FTC Get the Funds It Needs to Police Internet?

Lindsy Embree — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 10:08:06 -0400

Full article: Politico
Tony Romm
As Congress weighs whether to expand the powers of the Federal Trade Commission as an online privacy watchdog, a key question looms. Will Washington fund its work?

Privacy Groups Urge Public to Push for Industry Adoption of Google Buzz Settlement Terms

Stevie Converse — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:04:31 -0400

Full article: Los Angeles Times
Jim Puzzanghera
A coalition of leading privacy groups urged the public to push for industrywide adoption of the tough online data protection terms the government imposed on Google as part of a recent settlement of complaints about its Buzz social network.

FTC Asks Court to Shut Down Fake News Sites

Stevie Converse — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:04:44 -0400

Full article: The Hill
Gautham Nagesh
The Federal Trade Commission is asking federal courts to stop 10 firms from using fake websites to make misleading claims regarding acai berry weight-loss products. The complaints allege the sites are typically titled something like "News 6 News Alerts," "Health News Health Alerts," or "Health 5 Beat Health News." The FTC said the sites frequently display the logos of major media outlets -- such as ABC, CBS, CNN and Consumer Reports — and claim their reports have been on the networks.

Google Said to Be Possible Target of U.S. FTC Antitrust Probe

Lindsy Embree — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 08:52:28 -0400

Full article: Bloomberg News
Jeff Bliss and Sara Forden
Google's dominance of the Internet-search industry is being considered for a broad antitrust investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Protecting Privacy -- and Hindering Competition?

Lindsy Embree — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 09:13:04 -0400

Full article: Los Angeles Times
Jon Healey
The Federal Trade Commission's action against Google and its Google Buzz social-networking initiative is largely a reminder that the FTC will crack down on companies that violate their own privacy policies. But the commission went an important step further.