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Flo Health pitched its Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker as a way for millions of women to “take full control of [their] health.” But according to the FTC, despite express privacy claims, the company took control of users’ sensitive fertility data and shared it with third parties – a broken promise that left consumers feeling “outraged,” “victimized,” and “violated.” Read on for details, including a notable feature in the proposed settlement...

Aside from obligatory shots of the Grand Canyon or the Leaning Tower of Pisa, many photos that consumers want to keep feature the faces of friends and family. Using a service like Everalbum’s Ever app to store photos and videos in the cloud is one way to free up space on consumers’ devices. But what was Everalbum doing behind the scenes after consumers entrusted the company with those images? A proposed FTC settlement suggests that Everalbum’s...

Sometime in the future, when we look back on the year that was 2020, it is likely that we will want to remember the good things that happened. And in the world of FTC antitrust enforcement, a lot of good things happened last year. In fact, any attempt to compile a list of the top 10 couldn’t do justice to the incredible work of Bureau of Competition staff and their unprecedented set of accomplishments in this 12-month span, which I’ve highlighted...

If you have clients who operate assisted living facilities or nursing homes, read on. The second round of Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) is in the works and the money is already being sent to people. But like last time, the payment is meant for the person, not the place where they live. In the first round – let’s call EIP 1.0 – we know that some nursing facilities tried to take the stimulus payments intended for their residents, particularly...

In many ways, gift cards ushered in a win-win era. Better gift-giving (and getting) for consumers and increased sales for retailers. But leave it to scammers to try to mess up a good thing. According to an FTC Data Spotlight, gift cards are now the top method of payment favored by many fraudsters. For years, the FTC has warned consumers about gift card grifters. Now there’s a new Stop Gift Card Scams Toolkit to help retailers do their part to...

Gift cards make great holiday gifts. But reports to FTC show that scammers like getting them, too. Scammers don’t ask nicely, though. They use trickery to insist on gift cards, and they ask for specific brands. Scammers prefer gift cards because they can get quick cash while staying a nonymous. In fact, giving a scammer the PIN numbers off the back of a gift card is the number one way people report losing money on many of the top frauds reported...

At the Monterey Pop Festival, the legendary Jimi Hendrix reportedly one-upped The Who by setting fire to his guitar and his amplifier. The legendary – but fictional – Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap boasted of having an amp that “goes to 11.” Of course, those aren’t the kind of amps covered by the FTC’s Amplifier Rule. But industry members and home audiophiles will want to take note as the FTC’s ongoing regulatory review process tunes in to the future...

“It’s the Wild West out there!” How often have you heard that statement made about health claims for products containing CBD? But here’s the thing: It’s not the Wild West. In fact, health-related representations for CBD products are subject to the same established requirements of scientific substantiation the FTC has applied for decades to any advertised health claim. That’s the message of Operation CBDeceit, a law enforcement sweep challenging...

To meet the needs of consumers who are injured or face a medical emergency while traveling, Scottsdale-based SkyMed International sells air evacuation plans and other services. The FTC’s action against SkyMed also involves consumer injury, but not of the fractured-femur-in-France variety. According to the FTC, SkyMed put consumers’ sensitive information at risk of compromise by failing to employ a robust data security program. SkyMed’s...

It’s an annual celebration of the innovative, the audacious, and the avant garde. The Met Gala? Not quite. It’s the FTC’s sixth PrivacyCon, scheduled to convene virtually on July 27, 2021. PrivacyCon brings together researchers, academics, consumer advocates, industry members, and law enforcers to discuss what’s new and noteworthy in data security and consumer privacy. Interested in showcasing your research at PrivacyCon? The FTC just issued a...