Consumer Alerts

The FTC’s Office of Technology (“OT”) was founded in 2023 with the purpose of strengthening and supporting law enforcement investigations and actions, advising and engaging with FTC staff and the

Finding healthcare coverage can be a challenge for many Americans, including gig workers, the self-employed, and people at small businesses. So when consumers were looking for health insurance under

Tick. Tick. Tick. For small business owners, gig workers, and freelancers fighting for survival during the pandemic, every day that passed without essential capital put their futures at risk. So when

For small businesses struggling to stay afloat during COVID, time was of the essence. When help materialized in the form of the emergency Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) administered by the Small

The FTC’s Tech Summit on AI [1] highlighted three panels that reflect different layers of the AI tech stack – hardware and infrastructure, data and models, and front-end user applications. Today, we

Think about the two women across from you in the office. Now consider the sobering statistic that of those two women, one will battle cancer in her lifetime. The bad news gets worse when you realize

The FTC just announced final updates to the Telemarketing Sales Rule and there’s an important revision that will help protect small businesses from scammers making misrepresentations in B2B calls. But

Where can you hear technology researchers discuss what’s new and what’s next in talked-about tech topics like AI, deepfakes, and health privacy? At the FTC’s eighth annual PrivacyCon. It starts this

There’s been a development in the world of television, but it has nothing to do with who’s starring or what’s streaming. It’s about an important consideration for consumers to keep in mind when

Three recent FTC enforcement actions reflect a heightened focus on pervasive extraction and mishandling of consumers’ sensitive personal data. Proposed Settlements with Avast [1] , X-Mode [2] , and

Landlords and property managers can’t collude on rental pricing. Using new technology to do it doesn’t change that antitrust fundamental. Regardless of the industry you’re in, if your business uses an

If there were a bingo board that included just about every privacy and data security issue on the minds of consumers, academics, businesses, and government agencies, the FTC’s eight annual PrivacyCon

Ever spend hours (and hours) inputting complicated financial information online only have it deleted? It’s frustrating enough when it’s due to a technical glitch, but according to an FTC complaint

When uttered by a pirate, “Avast!” is a nautical term for “Listen up and cut it out.” And when the FTC says “Avast!” to software company Avast, it means the same thing. UK-based Avast Limited told

The Bureau of Consumer Protection welcomes an open dialogue with parties cooperating with its investigations. Such dialogue allows the Bureau to make more informed decisions on whether to recommend an

To turn the old adage on its head, imitation is the insincerest form of falsity. After years of fighting back against scammers who impersonate government agencies and companies, the FTC proposed a

Small businesses are the engines that drive the American economy and capital is the fuel that propels them forward. So when fast-talking operators target small businesses with deceptive or unfair

"I've had the blues, the reds, and the pinks. One thing’s for sure: Love stinks." Far be it from us to criticize love on Valentine’s Day, but “Love Stinks” – the 80s hit by the J. Geils Band –

You may have heard that “data is the new oil”—in other words, data is the critical raw material that drives innovation in tech and business, and like oil, it must be collected at a massive scale and

The FTC just issued its 2023 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book jam-packed with facts about the kind of scams consumers have reported to us. Has the reported dollar amount lost to fraud gone up or