The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on April 22, 2025, that it has approved a settlement entered into a Final Order with accessiBe, which claimed its plug-in product, accessWidget, “can make any website compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).” The settlement includes the payment of $1 million and requires accessiBe to refrain from “making
Federal Trade Commision
Privacy Tip #440 – Text Scam Proceeds Surpass $470M in 2024
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips
I have been getting a lot of texts that are clearly scams, and those around me have confirmed an increase in spammy texts.
According to an FTC Consumer Protection Data Spotlight, individuals lost over $470 million resulting from text scams. The top text scams of 2024 that accounted for half of the $470 million…
FTC Settles with Companies Over Sale of Sensitive Data
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been on a mission to communicate its seriousness about companies collecting, using, and selling consumers’ sensitive location data and that it is closely watching these practices.
On December 3, 2024, the FTC announced that it entered into a proposed order with Gravy Analytics and its subsidiary Venntel “for unlawfully…
Second FTC AI Facial Recognition Case Against Company for Making False and Misleading Statements about Software
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
This week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a proposed consent order to settle allegations against IntelliVision Technologies Corp. (IntelliVision) for making false, misleading, and unsubstantiated claims that its artificial intelligence (AI) facial recognition software, was free of gender and racial bias.
According to the proposed consent order, IntelliVision must cease publicizing misrepresentations of its…
Privacy Tip #423 – FTC Files Complaint Against Mobilewalla for Selling Consumers’ Precise Location Data
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips
Many people do not understand how their geolocation data can be collected and used about them, or how massive the amount of precise location data collected from our devices.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently filed a complaint against Mobilewalla, Inc., alleging that it violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by selling consumers’…
FCC Fines Wireless Carriers $200M for Sharing Location Data with Third Parties
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that it has levied almost $200 million in fines against “the nation’s largest wireless carriers for illegally sharing access to customers’ location information without consent and without taking reasonable measures to protect that information against unauthorized disclosure.”
The FCC’s allegations include that the carriers sold access to customers’…
Privacy Tip #396 – FTC Settles with InMarket for Selling Precise Location Information of Consumers
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips
On May 1, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement with InMarket Media (InMarket), a digital marketing and data aggregator, to resolve the FTC’s allegations that InMarket “unlawfully collected and used consumers’ location data for advertising and marketing.”
The complaint filed by the FTC against InMarket alleged that InMarket collects and aggregates location…
FTC Ruling on Proposed Facial Recognition Safe Harbor under COPPA
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has declined to approve a new method for obtaining parental consent under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) that would involve analyzing facial geometry to verify an adult’s identity.
In a letter to the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), Yoti (a digital identity company), and SuperAwesome (a company that…