How to Claim Your Fortnite Refund Before It’s Too Late
Continue Reading

How to Claim Your Fortnite Refund Before It’s Too Late

Who laughs last undoubtedly laughs longest. If Fortnite tricked you or your little one into making unauthorized in-game purchases and consequently locked your account for disputing the same, it’s payback time. Ironically, Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, lost in a legal Battle Royale after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) compelled the game maker into a $520 million settlement in refunds and penalties. Over 37 million Fortnite players are eligible for a slice of the $245 million refund money.

gavel
Continue Reading

LifeLock Lawsuit Over – Settles Deceptive Advertising Claims with Feds for $12million

LifeLock, the company that offers identity theft insurance, has settled a lawsuit with the FTC after the Federal Trade Commission sued LifeLock for deceptive advertising claims. Life Lock says that they were happy to settle the suit because the suit was based on facts that are two years old, and no longer applicable.

can-spam comments
Continue Reading

Hate Being Added to Email Mailing Lists without Your Permission? Now is Your Chance to Let the FTC Know!

With little fanfare, this month the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) opened up a request for comments regarding our Federal anti-spam law, known as CAN-SPAM. For those who are not aware, the U.S. is the only first-world country that has not outlawed the practice of adding someone to a mailing list without first obtaining their express permission.

fcc proposal opt-in to sell data
Continue Reading

FCC Proposes that You Have to Opt-In Before Internet Service Provider Can Sell Your Info

Now here’s a novel idea: how about if your Internet service (ISP), telecom, or broadband provider had to get your permission before they could sell your information and data to third-parties? That’s just what FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is proposing (full text of proposal below). What, you thought it was already that way? Think again, and the Internet, broadband and telecom providers are fighting it.

Continue Reading

Ashley Madison Knew Security was Weak; Courts say Feds can go after Companies with Weak Security

Evidence in the form of leaked email demonstrates that Ashley Madison execs knew that their security was weak. A Federal court ruling last week says that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can go after companies whose Internet security is weak. Hrrm…

federal trade commission ftc lawsuit against at and t
Continue Reading

FTC Sues AT and T for Throttling Data of Unlimited Data Plan Customers

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against AT and T, alleging that by throttling the data of their unlimited data customers (who were grandfathered in to the old unlimited data plan) once those customers reach a certain level of data usage, they are violating their offer of “unlimited data”, which offer was used to induce those customers to renew their contracts with AT and T, and to upgrade to new phones.

snapchat ftc settlement
Continue Reading

Snapchat Spanked by FTC over “Messages Disappearing Forever” Deception

Snapchat, the subject of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) action stemming from their claims that “snaps” would disappear forever after mere seconds – which of course wasn’t true – has settled with the FTC.

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

FTC has Rachel in its Crosshairs as They Clamp Down on Phone Spam Robocalls

The phone spam calls start out essentially the same, “Hi, this is Rachel from cardholder services..” or “Hi, this is Rachel from cardmember services…”.. then usually it will either say something like “..calling in reference to your current credit card account. It is urgent that you {take some action}”, or “Please hold for an important message…” or she will ask you to select from several options with your phone’s touch pad. Most often it is “Press 1 to speak to an operator, press 2 to be removed from the call list.” Stacey and Stacy have been making a lot of these calls too, about extended warranties. These are so-called “robocalls” – generated (often overseas) with the Rachel or other similar script and computerized dialing, and almost always peddaling some scam, be it debt relief, credit card consolidation, mortgage refinancing, or some similar financial scam. It has gotten so bad that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ran a “Robocall Challenge”, offering a $50,000 reward for the best proposed technology to deal with the burgeoning robocall problem.

patent troll
Continue Reading

I’m a Patent Assertion Entity, Not a Patent Troll, Thank You Very Much

As the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) became more and more flooded with patent applications, what with the increase in emerging technologies, the dot.com bubble, the growth of Silicon Valleys, etc., to name but a few factors, they seemed to be unable to keep up with the glut of new patent applications and, many believe, their approval process became “approve them all, and let the courts sort them out.” Sort of the bureaucratic version of “kill them all and let God sort them out.” And to extend the analogy, a new St. Peter was born. Only, these entities were far from saints – in fact, they are trolls. Oh, excuse us – they are “Patent Assertion Entities”. Now, to be fair, there is a place for the legitimate Patent Assertion Entity (or “PAE”) – which is an organization whose business model is primarily the purchasing of patents and then the assertion of the rights attendant and pursuant to those patents. But many such outfits really do deserve the term “patent troll”.

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

Kids’ Gaming Apps, Such as Mobbles, Being Preemptively Pulled Off the Market as FTC Gears Up to Launch Privacy Violation Investigation

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is gearing up to launch a children’s mobile game privacy investigation that is so massive, kids’ game makers, such as Mobbles, are hastily yanking titles before the FTC investigation becomes official. Mobbles was unofficially informed that their software is part of the some 200 titles being investigated in connection with accusations that they are storing the private information of its young users, including their locations.

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

Federal Trade Commission Offers $50,000 Bounty Reward to Whomever Can Stop Automated Phone Spam with First Ever “FTC Robocall Challenge”

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is responding to what they say is a huge surge in automated phone calls, or, “robocalls,” by offering a cash reward and prizes to the person, or group of people, who can thwart these calls in the “FTC Robocall Challenge.” According to the FTC, complaints about robocalls skyrocketed to a high of 212,000 this past April, compared to the last high of 65,000 complaints in October of 2010.

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

FTC Gears Up to File Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google

Google is yet again finding themselves in hot water as the Federal Trade Commission is poised to slap them with an antitrust lawsuit. The FTC staff recommendation for the antitrust lawsuit is not unexpected given the swift investigations of Google by California, New York, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Ohio and Texas. On top of the U.S. investigation, there is also an antitrust investigation of Google taking place in Europe.

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

Google Slapped for Continuing to Collect Personal Data from Safari

Google is again blaming technical glitches for violating privacy policies and collecting personal data, this time from those using Apple’s Safari web browser. Google has agreed to pay the Federal Trade Commission $22.5 million – the largest amount that the FTC has ever fined – because they sneakily undermined the privacy settings of millions of Safari users by using computer code to trick Safari into granting Google access to user activity through cookies.

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

Google, Facebook and Twitter Join Forces to Fight New Child Privacy Efforts

The Obama administration is proposing to strengthen child privacy laws, and Internet giants Facebook, Twitter and Google are not happy. According to the three websites, the proposed law changes will interfere with their user’s ability to tweet, share information on the Web, and to “like” Facebook posts. They also say that these changes hamper free speech.

The Internet Patrol default featured image
Continue Reading

Herbal Supplement Spammer Actually Goes to Jail

If you were on the Internet in 2005 or 2006, you almost certainly also received spam for an herbal weight loss supplement called ‘Hoodia’, among others, and, if you received spam for Hoodia, then it’s also almost certain that Brian McDaid was behind it. In 2007, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) nabbed McDaid, a chiropractor from Thorndale, Pennsylvania, and charged him with false and deceptive business claims, and several violations of the Federal anti-spam law, CAN-SPAM.