Blog

Educational technology hasn’t totally overtaken chalk dust and penmanship, but ed tech certainly has found its way into schools. A proposed settlement with Edmodo, LLC, alleges the ed tech company violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule and the FTC Act by collecting personal information from school kids without their parents’ consent, using that data for advertising purposes, and unfairly requiring schools and teachers to...

Texting is cheap and easy, and scammers are counting on the ding of an incoming text being hard to ignore. [1] In 2022, they were right to the tune of $330 million in losses to text scams, as reported to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network, with a median reported loss of $1,000. That’s more than double the 2021 reported losses and nearly five times what people reported in 2019. [2] In fact, reports about text scams spiked in the first six months...

No one would try to run a marathon with just a few days of preparation. It takes months of rigorous training before you can step up to the starting line with confidence. Of course, the process of studying, selecting, opening, and operating a franchise can make a marathon feel like a stroll in the park. In the second of our Franchise Fundamentals blog series, we take a closer look at the extensive research “road work” prospective franchisees...

For many people, buying a franchise has proven to be a good choice, but like any other financial decision, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the question “Is a franchise right for me ?” Buying a franchise involves a major financial outlay and owning one often requires an “all in” lifestyle commitment. If you’re thinking about whether your future could be in a franchise, follow the FTC Business Blog for a series we’re calling Franchise...

Using their own colorful vocabulary, motocross devotees do their best to distance themselves from flat landing, roosting, and whiskey throttle. Something else many motocross, motorcycle, and all-terrain vehicle fans want to avoid: parts and equipment made in other countries, but imported into the United States already packaged with false “Made in USA” labels. That’s what the FTC alleges that North Carolina-based Cycra did , in violation of the...

By any measure, this year has been extraordinary. Our litigation workload continues to expand, with eight cases in various stages of administrative or federal court litigation and three on appeal. The latest, in which a unanimous Commission authorized staff to block the merger of the two largest providers of home mortgage loan origination systems and other key lender software tools, is an enormous undertaking, involving several horizontal and...

Last year the Bureau of Competition created its own Criminal Liaison Unit (“CLU”) as part of a Commission initiative to expand its existing criminal referral program and protect the public from criminal conduct. Headed by two former DOJ Antitrust Division criminal prosecutors, the CLU works with other BC staff to identify and refer to criminal prosecutors conduct uncovered during the course of FTC investigations and litigations. While the FTC is...

The FTC just released a Request for Information (RFI) on the business practices of Cloud Computing Providers. The RFI is a tool to gather information and inform the FTC’s understanding of cloud computing – we're interested in hearing about issues from users of cloud services, academics, civil society groups, industry participants, and more. Our interests are similar to those of other regulatory colleagues in the US [1], UK [2], France [3], Japan...

A deep dive into the technical side of FTC’s recent cases on digital health platforms, GoodRx & BetterHelp The Federal Trade Commission recently took enforcement action against GoodRx [1] and BetterHelp [2], two digital healthcare platforms, for allegedly sharing user health data with third parties for advertising. Both cases highlighted the use of third-party tracking pixels, which enable platforms to amass, analyze, and infer information about...

Millions of people in the U.S. rent their home. Their landlord could be a small mom-and-pop property owner, a large property management company, a public housing agency, or some other kind of organization. Many of these landlords buy applicants’ credit reports or use tenant screening companies to assist in evaluating prospective tenants. Tenant screening companies are consumer reporting agencies that compile information about the prospective...