FTC

FTC prescribes GoodRx a $1.5m pill after 'sharing health info' with web giants

Facebook, Google, Twilio had a look-see of that data, we're told

Personal Tech02 Feb 2023 | 8

FTC floats rule to ban imposed non-compete agreements in US

Miscreants would face the wrath of Khan

Legal06 Jan 2023 | 15

Microsoft-FTC dispute over Activision deal hits court

Wildly popular Call of Duty game at the center of the antitrust tussle

Software03 Jan 2023 | 1

FCC calls for mega $300 million fine for massive US robocall campaign

5 billion calls over three months. Was your phone spammed?

Security22 Dec 2022 | 82

Video game players sue to frag Microsoft-Activision merger

Redmond accused of monopolising a market! How shocking

Personal Tech21 Dec 2022 | 9

Epic payment: Fortnite maker pays record $520m to settle FTC case

Updated Someone thought of the children, and the dark patterns

Personal Tech19 Dec 2022 | 23

FTC wants to pause Microsoft's Activision Blizzard mega-takeover

Watchdog answers its call of duty, fears serial monopoly abuser will strike again

Personal Tech08 Dec 2022 | 15

FTC urged to clamp down on businesses' voracious appetite for data

ACLU agrees that the only way to protect consumers is to control what can be collected

Personal Tech22 Nov 2022 | 4

World's richest man posts memes as $44b Twitter acquisition veers off course

Staff locked out as hundreds appear to say no to Musk's 'hardcore' ultimatum

Offbeat18 Nov 2022 | 210

Republican senators tell FTC to back off data security, surveillance rules

And they don't like the states' 'patchwork' privacy laws, either

Legal10 Nov 2022 | 24

Vonage to pay $100m for making it nearly impossible to cancel internet phone services

Ericsson's VoIP biz used 'a panoply of hurdles' to keep customers on the hook

Personal Tech04 Nov 2022 | 39

Watchdog urged to sniff out any collusion, deception in rent-setting algorithms

Things could get real for RealPage real fast

AI + ML02 Nov 2022 | 10

Education tech giant gets an F for security after sensitive info on 40 million users stolen

Chegg it out: Four blunders in four years

CSO31 Oct 2022 | 6

Manufacturers could be forced to include repair instructions

Fix-it guides among changes mulled by FTC for home appliances and potentially other stuff

Personal Tech19 Oct 2022 | 30

Amazon's Roomba acquisition gets caught on FTC's rug

The Wrath of Khan

Personal Tech21 Sep 2022 | 16

Data tracking poses a 'national security risk' FTC told

'We're making China's job easier'

Security09 Sep 2022 | 31

Mozilla CSO demands fines to curb Big Tech surveillance

These super-corps are otherwise enjoying 'a consequence-free zone'

Personal Tech09 Sep 2022 | 9

FTC sues data broker for selling millions of people's 'precise' location info

Which would be very problematic in this Post-Roe era

Personal Tech29 Aug 2022 | 28

FTC presses ahead in its war on 'free' Turbo Tax

Updated US watchdog snubs Intuit's request to drop claims of bait-and-switch tactics

Personal Tech23 Aug 2022 | 15

FTC ponders proper punishment for commercial data 'surveillance' and shoddy security

Got thoughts on the online panopticon? The FTC wants to hear

Personal Tech11 Aug 2022 | 4

Now another Meta acquisition in jeopardy: VR biz Within

And on the same day revenue declined, web ad spend uncertain, hiring slowed, more AI curation promised

AI + ML28 Jul 2022 | 14

FTC suddenly gets very stern about not-really-anonymized anonymized data

Right after Biden's order to protect women in a post-Roe America

Personal Tech12 Jul 2022 | 9

Biden considers removal of Trump-era China tariffs to ease inflation

But US administration split on loss of leverage, according to reports

Legal05 Jul 2022 | 14

Walmart accused of turning blind eye to transfer fraud totaling millions of dollars

Store giant brands watchdog's lawsuit 'factually misguided, legally flawed'

Cyber-crime29 Jun 2022 | 42

LGBTQ+ folks warned of dating app extortion scams

Uncle Sam tells of crooks exploiting Pride Month

Cyber-crime27 Jun 2022 | 6

FTC urged to probe Apple, Google for enabling ‘intense system of surveillance’

Ad tracking poses a privacy and security risk in post-Roe America, lawmakers warn

Personal Tech27 Jun 2022 | 13

US senators seek ban on sale of health location data

With Supreme Court set to overturn Roe v Wade, privacy is key

Research17 Jun 2022 | 32

FTC urged to protect data privacy of women visiting abortion clinics

Updated As Supreme Court set to overturn Roe v Wade, safeguards on location info now more vital than ever

Personal Tech23 May 2022 | 45

FTC signals crackdown on ed-tech harvesting kid's data

Trade watchdog, and President, reminds that COPPA can ban ya

Personal Tech20 May 2022 | 9

FTC says Frontier lied about its internet speeds amid $8.5m settlement

Telco 'ripped off customers by charging high-speed prices for slow service', says watchdog

Networks07 May 2022 | 17

FTC probes Broadcom for anti-competitive behavior again – reports

Chip designer allegedly cites supply chain issues to lock customers in exclusively

Systems25 Apr 2022 |

FTC sues Intuit for false advertising, says 'free' TurboTax isn't always free

Folks fill out online forms only to be told to upgrade to paid versions

Personal Tech29 Mar 2022 | 45

CafePress fined for covering up 2019 customer info leak

Watchdog demands $500,000 after millions of people's info stolen and sold

Security16 Mar 2022 | 9

FTC celebrates after Nvidia-Arm deal collapses

GPU titan retains significant influence over CPU core house given it is a major customer

On-Prem15 Feb 2022 | 9

Arm's $66bn sale to Nvidia is off: Deal collapses after world's competition regulators raise concerns

SoftBank Group opts to take Arm stock public again as CEO Simon Segars announces departure

On-Prem08 Feb 2022 | 43

In a first, FTC extracts millions of dollars from online store accused of blocking bad reviews on its website

Glad rags merchandiser denies wrongdoing, says it coughed up $4.2m to 'avoid distraction'

Personal Tech27 Jan 2022 | 29

US mergers doubled in 2021 so FTC and DoJ seek new guidelines to stop illegal ones

Last set of rules written in 2010 – a whole different era in tech terms

Security19 Jan 2022 | 6

US watchdog pokes Facebook a second time: Meta faces fresh monopoly lawsuit

If at first you don't succeed, you're probably the FTC

Personal Tech12 Jan 2022 | 9

You better have patched those Log4j holes or we'll see what a judge has to say – FTC

Apply fixes responsibly in a timely manner or face the wrath of Lina Khan

Security05 Jan 2022 | 9

140,000-plus drivers sent $60m in compensation checks after Amazon 'stole their tips'

One lucky bod gets $28,000, on average it's a few hundred bucks each

Personal Tech03 Nov 2021 | 68

FTC carpet bombs industry with letters warning that fake reviews will be punished

The Register is an amazing website, simply one of the very best out there. Extremely cool people. 10/10

Legal14 Oct 2021 | 43

Zoom's $15bn merger with Five9 probed by Uncle Sam for national security risks

Vid-chat giant's ties to China under the microscope by AG-led panel

Security22 Sep 2021 | 7

Senators urge US trade watchdog to look into whether Tesla may just be over-egging its Autopilot, FSD pudding

The day before Elon's big party, too

AI + ML19 Aug 2021 | 71

Court kills FTC, US states' antitrust complaints against trillion-dollar Facebook

Watchdog has 30 days to try again or let it go

Personal Tech29 Jun 2021 | 13

Big Tech critic Lina Khan confirmed as FTC chairwoman

Promises to 'safeguard fair competition and protect consumers, workers, and honest businesses ... with vigor'

PaaS + IaaS16 Jun 2021 | 8

Hi, Congress. FTC here. It would be so wonderful if you could let us recover money stolen from victims by crooks

After that whole, y'know, unanimous Supreme Court decision thing that told us not to do that anymore

Personal Tech20 May 2021 | 21

Big right-to-repair win: FTC blasts tech giants for making it so difficult to mend devices

'There is scant evidence to support manufacturers’ justifications for restrictions'

Personal Tech07 May 2021 | 51

US Supreme Court puts a stop to FTC extracting big bucks from crooks to refund victims

Oops, watchdog doesn't actually have the power to do so, panel unanimously point out

Legal23 Apr 2021 | 14

US watchdog kills off four-year antitrust complaint against Qualcomm, still insists it was right anyway

Updated FTC cites 'significant headwinds' in trying to fight the San Diego chipmaker

Networks30 Mar 2021 | 5

Amazon coughs up $62m to shoo away claims it stole driver tips, cut pay rates without telling them

What a lovely company

Personal Tech02 Feb 2021 | 38

Zoom strong-armed by US watchdog to beef up security after boasting of end-to-end encryption that didn't exist

Vid-chat giant promises never again to make 'misrepresentations about its privacy and security practices'

Security09 Nov 2020 | 46

Intel, HP, Tesla, etc protest to US monopoly watchdog: Are you just gonna let Qualcomm patent-tax us to death?

You had teeth once, FTC – use them

Networks25 Aug 2020 | 10

Appeals judges toss out FTC win: What Qualcomm did to its rivals was 'hypercompetitive, not anticompetitive'

Chip designer ruled not a monopolistic strangler after all

Networks12 Aug 2020 | 17

Cisco hacked: Six backend servers used by customer VIRL-PE deployments compromised via SaltStack

Roundup Plus other news from infosec land this week

Security31 May 2020 | 6

At least someone's making out like a bandit: Scammers have pocketed $13m in Coronavirus fraud from the US this year

FTC tallies the cost of pandemic rip-offs

Security15 Apr 2020 | 3

Remember Tapplock, the 'unbreakable' smart lock that was allergic to screwdrivers? The FTC just slapped it down for 'deceiving' folks

And you can still open its improved version with a strong magnet

Edge + IoT06 Apr 2020 | 52