FTC
FTC orders GM to stop collecting and selling driver’s data
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is taking action against General Motors (GM) and its subsidiary, OnStar, for unlawful collection and selling drivers’ precise geolocation and driving behavior data from millions of vehicles. The U.S. government organization proposes a settlement in which the automotive giant will be barred from sharing drivers’ sensitive data for five years. The car […]
FTC cracks down on Genshin Impact gacha loot box practices
Genshin Impact developer Cognosphere (aka Hoyoverse) has agreed to a $20 million settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over its gacha loot box monetization and is now banned from selling them to teens under the age of sixteen without parental consent. This comes after the FTC referred a complaint to the Department of Justice over the […]
FTC sues GoDaddy for years of poor hosting security practices
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will require web hosting giant GoDaddy to implement basic security protections, including HTTPS APIs and mandatory multi-factor authentication, to settle charges that it failed to secure its hosting services against attacks since 2018. FTC says the Arizona-based company’s claims of reasonable security practices also misled millions of web-hosting customers because GoDaddy […]
FTC orders Marriott and Starwood to implement strict data security
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ordered Marriott International and Starwood Hotels to define and implement a robust customer data security scheme following failures that led to massive data breaches. After acquiring Starwood in 2016 and failing to implement “reasonable data security,” Marriott International suffered three major data breaches impacting 344 million customers globally. Order for stronger […]
FTC warns of online task job scams hooking victims like gambling
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns about a significant rise in gambling-like online job scams, known as “task scams,” that draw people into earning cash through repetitive tasks, with the promises of earning more if they deposit their own money. Although this type of scam was nearly non-existent in 2020, with the FTC receiving zero […]
FTC distributes $72 million in Fortnite refunds from Epic Games
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is distributing over $72 million in Epic Game Fortnite refunds for the company’s use of dark patterns to trick players into making unwanted purchases. This is part of the record-breaking $245 million settlement the agency reached with the game publisher in December 2022. The settlement addressed allegations that Epic Games used “dark […]
FTC bans data brokers from selling Americans’ sensitive location data
Today, the FTC banned data brokers Mobilewalla and Gravy Analytics from harvesting and selling Americans’ location tracking data linked to sensitive locations, like churches, healthcare facilities, military installations, and schools. The FTC says Mobilewalla and Gravy Analytics unlawfully collected and sold location data collected from consumers, including data linked to their visits to places of worship and health-related locations. […]