MilConsumer Blog Feed

Love at first sight may (or may not) be a real thing, but when it comes to investing your money, it’s unwise to fall for a franchise without first subjecting it to tough-minded scrutiny. The third in the FTC’s Franchise Fundamentals blog series walks through an essential part of that evaluation: an in-depth review of the Financial Disclosure Document (FDD) required by the FTC’s Franchise Rule . You must receive the Franchise Disclosure Document...

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...

The Health Breach Notification Rule has been in place since 2009. Given the pace of innovation, that seems like a century in tech years. Since then, we’ve seen an explosion in the popularity of health apps, fitness trackers, and other health-related monitors. To keep up with technological developments and evolving business practices, the FTC is proposing changes to the Rule and welcomes your comments. The Health Breach Notification Rule applies...

Experts, advocates, and law enforcers are meeting at the FTC today to offer fresh perspectives on recyclable claims in advertising. Convened as part of the agency’s ongoing regulatory review, Talking Trash: Recyclable Claims and the Green Guides begins at 8:30 AM Eastern Time. Watch from the webcast link that will go live a few minutes before the start time. The FTC is leaving the public record open until June 13, 2023, so you can offer your...

As Emelia asked in Act V of Comedy of Errors , do “mine eyes deceive me?” Sorry to get all Shakespearean, but our eyes (and face, fingerprints, etc.) can reveal a lot of information about us – data that can be misused in deceptive or unfair ways. The FTC just issued a Policy Statement on Biometric Information and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and it’s a must-read for businesses. The increasing use of consumers’ biometric...

The eyes have it as the FTC hosts a workshop today, A Clear Look at the Eyeglass Rule , as part of its regulatory review of the Rule. Panelists will focus on proposed changes to the Eyeglass Rule and you can watch the discussion as it’s happening from the webcast link , which will go live minutes before the 9:00 AM ET start time. In addition, if you have feedback based on the topics discussed at the workshop, the FTC is leaving the public record...

The FTC has always recommended that families have in-depth, upfront discussions about funerals and it’s advice we take seriously ourselves. In November 2022, the Commission issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, asking for public comment about proposed changes to the Funeral Rule. We’re following up with a workshop scheduled for September 7, 2023, to consider issues raised by the ANPR. The Funeral Rule has been in place for almost 40...

Intimate facts about ovulation, fertility, and other sexual and reproductive health issues are about as personal as personal information can get. T he FTC alleges that Easy Healthcare Corporation – the company behind the Premom Ovulation Tracker app – broke its privacy promises by disclosing users’ sensitive health data to Google and AppsFlyer and by sharing other personal information with two firms in China. The complaint, which alleges that...

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...

There are a lot of famous trash talkers out there. Some professional athletes and a certain grouchy green resident of a street named Sesame come to mind. But when the FTC engages in trash talking – as we will at a May 23, 2023, national workshop – our purpose is to consider the current state of recycling practices and recycling-related advertising. We’ve just announced the agenda for Talking Trash at the FTC: Recyclable Claims and the Green...