Posts tagged Settlement
Tax Settlement Service in St. Louis, MO, Partners with SEO Firm to Help Taxpayers – openPR (press release)
Dec 22nd
 openPR (press release) |
Tax Settlement Service in St. Louis, MO, Partners with SEO Firm to Help Taxpayers
openPR (press release) Through search engine optimization (SEO) services provided by the online advertising firm Prospect Genius, this St. Louis-area tax advocate is now in a position to help more local residents in need of help with back tax returns. … |
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Renewed Calls for Privacy Law Following Facebook FTC Settlement
Nov 30th
This story originally appeared on ClickZ:
Kate Kaye wrote FTC Settles With Facebook, Renewing Calls for Privacy Law
Facebook shared user IDs with advertisers, allowing them to tie Facebook data to information gleaned about users on other …
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Facebook Downplays Significance Of FTC Privacy Settlement
Nov 29th
Facebook and the US Federal Trade Commission announced their formal privacy settlement today. Facebook and the federal agency each put their spin on it, with Facebook saying it was very similar to “agreements” previously reached with Google and Twitter: Recently, the US Federal Trade…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Facebook Nears Google Buzz-Like Privacy Settlement with FTC
Nov 14th
Facebook has reached a settlement with the FTC that may be ratified in the next few weeks. The settlement comes in response to concerns over Facebook’s privacy controls, and would mandate both new practices and regular privacy audits.
Face…
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Facebook Nearing Privacy Settlement With FTC [Updated]
Nov 11th
Facebook is close to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over charges that it acted in a deceptive manner in regards to its privacy settings, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal.
The settlement would require Facebook to receive user consent before making “material retroactive changes” to its privacy settings. It would also require independent privacy audits for the next 20 years.
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Facebook investigations began in December 2009 after CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared the age of privacy dead. At the time, Facebook made all aspects of a users’ profile, including name, photo, city, gender and friends’ list public by default. Before the change, users were able to manually choose the audience for this data.
Last March, the FTC charged Google with “deceptive privacy practices” over the launch of Google Buzz. The settlement barred Google from “future privacy misrepresentations,” and “required it to implement a comprehensive privacy program,” which called for regular, independent privacy audits for the next 20 years. Users would have to give Google “affirmative consent” before allowing it to change how it shared personal data.
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FTC Finalizes Settlement of Google Buzz Privacy Issues
Oct 27th
The FTC has approved its settlement with Google that addresses improper privacy disclosure during the release of Buzz. The settlement mandates additional privacy procedures, including third-party privacy audits every other year for the next two de…
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Belgium Says Google Broke Privacy Law, Offers Cash Settlement
Aug 18th
Google is considering a settlement offer from federal prosecutors in Belgium who say the company broke national privacy laws when it collected personal data from unsecured WiFi networks via its Street View vehicles. According to Bloomberg, prosecutors have offered Google a €150,000 penalty…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Settlement with FTC in First Test of COPPA Law for Kids Online
Aug 17th
A maker of iPhone games targeted to kids has settled a case brought against it just last Friday by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The case concerned use of child players’ personal information without parental consent.
Broken Thumbs Apps is the maker of Emily’s Girl World, and a series of spinoff games, primarily for the iOS platform, that center around the fun and fashionable world of young ladies. Kids can dress up virtual models in their choice of clothes and make-up. It sounds innocuous enough, but apparently those choices were being kept on file, and perhaps analyzed.
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“Defendants have failed to maintain or link to an online notice of Defendants’ information collection, use, and disclosure practices for the Emily’s Girl World app and the Emily Dress-up apps,” reads the FTC’s formal complaint (PDF available here). The complaint went on to say that Broken Thumbs failed to provide notice to parents about how the information collected from the kids would be put to use, nor did they obtain verifiable consent from those parents.
The parent company of Broken Thumbs settled for $50,000, but the FTC still wanted to make a point of things. In a statement, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz wrote, “The FTC’s COPPA Rule requires parental notice and consent before collecting children’s personal information online, whether through a website or a mobile app. Companies must give parents the opportunity to make smart choices when it comes to their children’s sharing of information on smart phones.”
COPPA [Children's Online Privacy Protection Act] applies to businesses operating Web sites whose intended audience includes kids 13 years of age and younger. At the time the law was passed in 2000, it was perceived as pertaining mainly to informational sites like blogs, or gathering places like chat groups. According to the FTC Web site, “An operator must post a link to a notice of its information practices on the home page of its Web site or online service and at each area where it collects personal information from children. An operator of a general audience site with a separate children’s area must post a link to its notice on the home page of the children’s area.”
The filing of a case against a mobile apps maker demonstrates the FTC doesn’t intend to wait for the COPPA law to be amended to account for mobile games. “The home page of its Web site” will essentially be synonymous with the start screen of the game.
On the legal blog of New York-based Information Law Group, Justine Gottshall writes, “The clear message: Everyone must strictly comply with COPPA and the FTC will continue to aggressively enforce COPPA’s requirement (in most cases) for prior parental notice and consent before collecting personal information from children… Thus, at a minimum, all companies that are in the mobile space and offer products or services directed at children (or where information is knowingly collected from children) should ensure they are providing the required disclosures – which may present unique challenges for a mobile offering – and obtaining parental consent as necessary.”
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