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Reports show scammers cashing in on crypto craze

Emma Fletcher
From Super Bowl ads to Bitcoin ATMs, cryptocurrency seems to be everywhere lately. Although it’s yet to become a mainstream payment method, reports to the FTC show it’s an alarmingly common method for scammers to get peoples’ money. Since the start of 2021, more than 46,000 people have reported losing over $1 billion in crypto to scams [1] – that’s about one out of every four dollars reported lost, [2] more than any other payment method. The...

FTC calls for a reboot on business guidance about digital advertising

Lesley Fair
If one year equals seven in dog years, nine years is probably close to a century in technology time. That’s why the FTC is taking a fresh look at its guidance to businesses on digital advertising – and we’re asking for your input. The FTC published its original .com Disclosures guidance in 2000. The document was updated in 2013 to reflect developments in the digital marketplace. Now it’s time for a start-to-finish reboot, given the major changes...

Reported crypto scam losses since 2021 top $1 billion, says FTC Data Spotlight

Lesley Fair
Let’s call it The Recliner Interval – the time it takes for an obscure niche product to start running prime time TV commercials. It’s a made-up metric, of course, but a few hours in front of the TV will demonstrate that advertising for cryptocurrency has gone mainstream. Now here’s a metric that isn’t made up. According to the latest FTC Consumer Protection Data Spotlight, since the start of 2021, more than 46,000 people have reported losing over...

FTC says credit repair business doubled as a pyramid scheme

Seena Gressin
For the second time this month, the FTC has sued a credit repair operation that it says combined fake promises to swiftly and substantially boost people’s credit scores with the offer of a bogus money-making opportunity selling credit repair services. In this latest case, the FTC says the supposed money-making opportunity was a pyramid scheme. The complaint alleges that Michigan-based Financial Education Services (FES), five related companies...

On FTC’s Twitter Case: Enhancing Security Without Compromising Privacy

DPIP and CTO Staff
In a complaint against Twitter announced today, the Federal Trade Commission alleged the company deceptively used Twitter users’ phone numbers and email addresses, which were collected for security purposes, for other purposes from 2014 to 2019. Users provided phone numbers or email addresses to Twitter for a variety of security purposes, such as for two-factor authentication or to unlock an account where Twitter detected suspicious or malicious...

New publication offers guidance on revised FTC Safeguards Rule

Lesley Fair
It’s short, to the point, and – as these things go – we think readable. It’s a new publication called FTC Safeguards Rule: What Your Business Needs to Know and it may be the resource you’re looking for to help your company comply with the revised Safeguards Rule. After asking for public comments, hosting a national forum, and reviewing what consumers and businesses had to say, the FTC revised its Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information –...

Twitter to pay $150 million penalty for allegedly breaking its privacy promises – again

Lesley Fair
It’s FTC 101. Companies can’t tell consumers they will use their personal information for one purpose and then use it for another. But according to the FTC, that’s the kind of digital bait-and-switch Twitter pulled on unsuspecting consumers. Twitter asked users for personal information for the express purpose of securing their accounts, but then also used it to serve targeted ads for Twitter’s financial benefit. It wasn’t Twitter’s first alleged...

Security Beyond Prevention: The Importance of Effective Breach Disclosures

Team CTO and the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection
The FTC has long stressed the importance of good incident response and breach disclosure as part of a reasonable information security program, both through cases and business guidance resources. [1] In some instances, the FTC Act creates a de facto breach disclosure requirement because the failure to disclose will, for example, increase the likelihood that affected parties will suffer harm. Both security breach detection and response are vital to...

FTC to Ed Tech: Protecting kids’ privacy is your responsibility

Lesley Fair
Whether your company is in the educational technology business or you have kids in schools where ed tech is used, you’ll want to read the FTC’s Policy Statement on Education Technology and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The key takeaway: Kids shouldn’t have to surrender their privacy rights to do their schoolwork or attend class remotely. That’s why companies can’t require parents and schools to agree to the comprehensive...

Save the date: FTC to host “Protecting Kids from Stealth Advertising in Digital Media”

Lesley Fair
Mark your calendar for October 19, 2022. That’s when the FTC will convene Protecting Kids from Stealth Advertising in Digital Media. Among the developments the virtual event will consider are the use of marketing tactics that make it difficult for children to distinguish between entertainment and advertising, and the rise of “kid influencers” whose videos often blur the line between paid promotions and unsponsored creative content. Researchers...