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What we have here is a failure to communicate…among other things

Larissa Bungo
Senior Attorney
Yes, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, the tree does make a sound. And, yes, if a data breach happens and you fail to timely notify affected customers, that’s an unfair practice. That’s just one of the lessons businesses can learn from the FTC’s proposed settlement with Global Tel*Link (GTL) and its subsidiaries, Telmate and TouchPay.

Preventing the Harms of AI-enabled Voice Cloning

FTC’s Office of Technology and Division of Marketing Practices
Today, the FTC is announcing the Voice Cloning Challenge to address the present and emerging harms of artificial intelligence- or “AI”-enabled voice cloning technologies. Speech synthesis has been around for several decades. [1] Perhaps one of the most famous examples is CallText 5010, the robotic-sounding speech synthesizer [2] Stephen Hawking used after he lost his voice in 1985. And now, going beyond digital voices like Hawking’s and Apple’s...

Staff warning letters to trade associations and influencers convey some salty words about sweetener posts

Lesley Fair
A consumer spots a social media post from a dietician stating – for example – “Aspartame increasing cancer risk?! Nope! Let’s talk about it” and “It’s okay to still enjoy your non-sugar-sweetened beverages” because “these beverages are absolutely no threat to your health.” Wouldn’t it be material to consumers to know the dietician was being paid by a trade association to convey those messages? FTC staff warning letters sent to two trade associations and a dozen dieticians and other online health influencers don’t sugarcoat the principle that failure to include clear disclosures in social media posts could violate the law.

File online comments about FTC’s proposal to ban junk fees

Lesley Fair
Junk fees – those hidden and bogus charges that have found their way into a wide variety of transactions – are on consumers’ minds. Based on what they’ve told us, junk fees are on their last nerve, too.

Cloud Computing RFI: What we heard and learned

Nick Jones
Cloud computing has emerged and grown significantly over the recent decades – from its infancy in 2004, to a $576 billion industry in 2023. [1] FTC’s Office of Technology, Bureau of Competition, and Bureau of Consumer Protection worked together to examine four specific areas of cloud computing through a Request for Information (RFI) and a public panel of cloud computing experts. These areas included competition, single points of failure, security...

New resources to help protect consumers and small businesses from fraud

Lesley Fair
Consumers speak many languages and unfortunately scammers are conversant in all of them. That’s why the FTC has reinforced its fraud fighting capabilities by collecting scam reports in multiple languages . As a member of the business community, you can lend a hand by sharing these new resources with employees, friends, and others in your network. To report in Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese, French, Arabic, Korean, Russian, Portuguese, Polish, and...

Brigit’s misleading financial practices were a bridge too far for consumers, FTC says

Lesley Fair
Personal finance app Bridge It – consumers may know the company as Brigit – promised that people could get cash advances of up to $250 “within seconds” and with no “hidden fees.” But the FTC alleges that for many consumers, Brigit was a bridge to false promises, extra charges, and dark patterns that made it easy to sign up for its $9.99 per month membership, but hard to cancel. In addition to an $18 million financial remedy, the proposed settlement will require the company to bridge the gap between its promises and its practices.

FTC announces new Safeguards Rule provision: Is your company up on what’s required?

Lesley Fair
October 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the effective date of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Safeguards Rule. Its purpose then – and its purpose now – is to protect consumers by requiring entities covered by the Rule to “develop, implement, and maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the security, confidentiality, and integrity of customer information.” The FTC just announced an amendment to the Rule that will require non-banking financial institutions within the FTC’s jurisdiction to report data breaches affecting 500 or more people.

FTC-Wisconsin settlement challenges car dealers’ sales practices, including alleged discrimination against American Indian consumers

Lesley Fair
In the automotive world they’re called “add-ons.” But for many consumers, they really amount to junk fees on wheels that add to the cost of a car while subtracting from the transparency of the transaction. $1.1 million FTC and State of Wisconsin proposed settlements with Wisconsin dealership group Rhinelander Auto Center, its current and former owners, and its general manager allege the defendants deceptively tacked illegal junk fees onto what...