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Consumer Protection
We’re continuing the work we’ve been doing since 2013: monitoring how the FTC operates, warning about the potential for abuse inherent in the FTC’s uniquely broad jurisdiction and extraordinarily elastic legal standards, and proposing reforms that could curb the potential for abuse without hamstringing the agency from bringing sound cases to protect consumers.
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Latest Articles
Article
TF’s Berin Szoka talks online privacy on “This Week”
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May 20, 2014
Article
FTC’s Data Security Case Against Wyndham Worldwide Moves Forward: TF in Adweek
Yesterday, a federal court denied Wyndham’s motion to dismiss the FTC’s charges, meaning the agency’s case alleging the hotel chain failed to provide “reasonable” security for customer data will move forward. TF’s Berin Szoka talked to Adweek about what this means for Wyndham’s challenge to the FTC’s authority: …Wyndham is sticking to its position that the FTC overstepped its authority. “It is important to note that the court made no decision on liability today. We ...
April 8, 2014
Article
Wyndham Decision Unsurprising but Misses the Point
Today, a federal court denied Wyndham’s Motion to Dismiss the FTC’s charges that the hotel chain failed to provide “reasonable” security for customer data. The District Court’s decision allows the FTC to continue collecting information under court-ordered discovery, but reserves until a motion for summary judgment or trial the underlying questions in the first-ever challenge to the FTC’s decade-long enforcement of data security (and privacy) issues through its Section 5 “unfairness ...
April 7, 2014
Article
FTC’s Administrative Litigation Process: Should the Commission Be Both Prosecutor and Judge?
This morning, the Washington Legal Foundation hosted a panel on how the FTC uses its administrative litigation process as an alternative to suing in court, “FTC’s Administrative Litigation Process: Should the Commission Be Both Prosecutor and Judge?” Check out our live-tweeting of the event for highlights, or watch the full video below: For more background, WLF’s David Balto did a great job explaining this process (which the FTC always wins), and the FTC: ...