FTC Gives Final Approval to Settlements with Companies that Falsely Claimed Participation in Privacy Shield

The Federal Trade Commission gave final approval to settlements with three companies that deceived consumers by falsely claiming participation in the European Union-United States Privacy Shield framework.

In separate complaints, the FTC alleges that human resources software company Decusoft, LLC, printing services company Tru Communication, Inc. (doing business as TCPrinting.net), and Md7, LLC, which manages real estate leases for wireless companies, violated the FTC Act by falsely claiming that they had completed the certification process for the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework. The FTC also alleged that Decusoft falsely claimed participation in the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield framework.

As part of their settlements with the FTC, the three companies are prohibited from misrepresenting the extent to which they participate in any privacy or data security program sponsored by the government or any self-regulatory or standard-setting organization and must comply with FTC reporting requirements. The FTC received four comments related to the settlements.

The Commission voted 2-0 to approve the final orders, as well as the responses to the four commenters.