Federal Trade Commission Chair Joseph Simons is in favor of a national privacy regime – but beware the potential unintended consequences, he said. “Depending on how you do privacy legislation, you could have an adverse impact on competition, potentially by entrenching the major digital platforms,” Simons told lawmakers during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on antitrust […]
There’s no point passing a comprehensive federal privacy legislation if the main enforcement agency doesn’t have the means to hold feet to the fire. On Tuesday, all five commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission appeared before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection in Washington, D.C., to make an appeal for more resources. “Section 5 is […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Brand Safety, Cont. More than a year after the YouTube scandal that catapulted brand safety to public attention, the issue remains a stubborn thorn in the side of online advertising. Hundreds of websites with objectionable content or political propaganda attract mainstream brands via Google, […]
Cold Shower For Market Power Big tech, are your ears burning? On Friday, the Federal Trade Commission held the second in an ongoing series of hearings digging into competition and consumer protection issues. The FTC is trying to update its enforcement and policy agenda in the face of fast-paced technological change. “Technology is no longer […]
What’s a good, succinct way to describe the current US system of data security and privacy regulation? “It’s a mess,” said Daniel Solove, a professor of law at George Washington University. That’s why the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is hosting a series of hearings from mid-September through November to help it rethink its approach to […]
Far from Silicon Valley, in a lecture hall at George Washington University Law School on an overcast day in Washington, DC, the clouds are gathering for big tech. On Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission held the first in a series of public hearings running from now through November focused on a wide range of consumer […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. David And Google-iath US Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) sent a letter to the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission Thursday calling for an investigation into whether Google’s dominance in search and digital advertising is suppressing competition in the market, The Hill reports. Hatch’s concerns […]
Federal Trade Commission members said during a House hearing Wednesday that the FTC does not have the authority to adequately punish companies that misuse consumer data. Several data privacy scandals over the last year and a half prompted the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. Equifax’s data breach in 2017, for example, released personal information […]
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can finally take down its vacancy sign. More than a year into Trump’s presidency, five new commissioners were approved by the Senate late last week. The brand-new commission, comprising three Republicans and two Democrats, are tasked with tackling consumer protection and privacy at a time when consumers are more aware – and […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. FTC OK Go The Federal Trade Commission is finally at full power. More than a year into Trump’s presidency, the Senate voted Thursday to confirm a full new slate of commissioners: three Republicans and two Democrats. It was in the nick of time. Acting […]
Regulators will always be playing catch-up with technology. Is self-regulation the answer? By the time regulators do act to protect consumers, it’s generally more reactive than proactive. “The pace of change is much quicker than it used to be,” Martha Coakley, the former attorney general of Massachusetts, said Wednesday at an event hosted by marketing […]
The fallout from the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) litigation against smart TV manufacturer Vizio for “unfair and deceptive data-collection” practices didn’t end with its $2.2 million settlement in February. Separately, Vizio is also embroiled in a class-action lawsuit that industry insiders predict is far from over. These allegations stem from claims the smart TV manufacturer […]
This post is not sponsored. Thirty-seven percent of publishers fail to properly label their sponsored content to comply with the FTC enforcement policy issued in December 2015, according to MediaRadar. The ad sales intelligence firm scanned sponsored content ads from 12,000 brands over the course of 2016. The numbers may look bad, but they actually […]
The ad tech ecosystem keeps Jessica Rich up at night. “The current models just aren’t working,” said Rich, who until recently sat on the front lines of advertising regulation and enforcement as director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. Rich resigned her post last week after a 26-year career at the commission […]
There’s a new top cop on the advertising regulation beat. Attorney Thomas Pahl will fill Jessica Rich’s shoes as acting director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. Acting FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen named Pahl to his new post on Wednesday, the day after it was announced Rich would be stepping down. Pahl […]
The sea change at the Federal Trade Commission continues. On Tuesday, Jessica Rich, the FTC’s director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, exited the commission after 26 years of service. Rich led the bureau since 2013, when she was appointed by then-FTC Chair Edith Ramirez. The announcement comes on the heels of Ramirez’s planned departure […]
Television viewing data is sensitive. And because consumers don’t expect such data to be collected, smart-TV manufacturer Vizio was penalized for doing so without an opt-in. Vizio paid the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) $2.2 million to settle charges over its data collection practices on Monday. The settlement requires that Vizio delete its old data and […]
Maureen Ohlhausen is taking the reins as acting chair of the Federal Trade Commission. Ohlhausen has been vocal about the need for less regulation and fewer restrictions around data collection, which dovetails with the digital ad industry’s point of view on the matter. Ohlhausen, who’s been been with the FTC since 1997 and has served […]
The Federal Trade Commission’s cross-device report has few practical recommendations on what consumers can do to navigate the tangled web of cross-device privacy controls – or the lack thereof. Although the staff report, issued Monday, is a notable public statement on the space, it cleaves to the commission’s historical party line on tracking. [Read the full […]
The agenda at this year’s PrivacyCon read like the Federal Trade Commission’s to-do list. Nearly 20 researchers from around the country converged on Washington, DC, Friday to dig into the privacy implications of the Internet of Things and big data, mobile privacy, consumer privacy expectations, online behavioral advertising, information security, the dangers of cross-app tracking […]
When it comes to cross-device tracking, privacy policies are not up to snuff – and the Federal Trade Commission is digging in. In a paper penned by the FTC Office of Technology Research and Investigation (OTech for short), it was revealed that the majority of Alexa’s 100 most popular websites have policies that reserve the right […]
Turn is settling with the Federal Trade Commission for its part in the Verizon zombie cookie debacle. It’s been nearly two years since it was first revealed that the demand-side platform was using Verizon’s unique identifier header (UIDH) for tracking purposes even if a user had opted out of being tracked. On Tuesday, the FTC […]
When Maneesha Mithal first joined the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection in 1999 – eight years before the first iPhone came out – the big issues of the day were how to regulate ecommerce and handle spam. The threat vectors have changed. The FTC’s top three priorities in 2017 will be Internet of Things […]
The internet of things will be a top enforcement priority for the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission in 2017 – especially in the wake of the recent distributed-denial-of-service attacks against Dyn. Dyn, which provides online infrastructure and domain services, was the victim of a DDOS onslaught that temporarily shut down major websites like Spotify, […]
“We generally may share information we collect on the site with certain service providers, some of whom may use the information for their own purposes as necessary.” That’s a nearly verbatim quote from a real privacy policy. (Emphases added.) “Vagueness impacts the consumer’s understanding of risk and their willingness to share information,” said Fordham University […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sponsored content disclosures on the mind. A complete lack of disclosure led to an FTC settlement with Lord & Taylor in March after the brand enlisted bloggers to post images to Instagram promoting one of its dresses. As FTC senior attorney Robin Spector told AdExchanger at the time, “What we are […]
Chinese electronics brand LeEco’s $2 billion acquisition of American smart TV manufacturer Vizio on Tuesday divorced its TV software and hardware operations from its data business. Although LeEco billed the deal as a move to drive more retail distribution opportunities for its electronics in the US, AdExchanger sources suggest the separation may be due to […]
Congress is starting to pay attention to ad fraud – and it’s looking to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for answers. To be precise, Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) drafted a letter to the FTC on Monday calling for the commission to take a closer look at the negative economic impact of digital […]
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) on Tuesday issued an impassioned rejection of the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) proposed change to online privacy and data security regulations. Wednesday is the final day of the public comment period before the FCC deliberates on the policy, which would force marketers to ask for permission to track consumers’ […]
InMobi was the first mobile ad network to get whipped by the Federal Trade Commission under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) for tracking geolocation without parental consent – and it’s not going to be the last. “What happened here is a wake-up call for regulators,” said Allison Fitzpatrick, a partner in the advertising, […]
