Articles Posted in FTC Consumer Protection Highlights

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) brought a permanent halt on September 14, 2006 to four illegal spamming operations – including one that offered the opportunity to “date lonely wives” and two that hijacked the computers of unwitting third parties and used them to pelt consumers with graphic sexually explicit e-mail. The FTC charged the operators…

On September 11, 2006, a federal judge ordered a magazine subscription seller to pay a civil penalty of more than $5.4 million and give up more than $1.6 million of his ill-gotten gains for violating a 1996 Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) consent order and the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”). This amount is the largest…

Social networking Web site operators Xanga.com, Inc. and its principals, Marc Ginsburg and John Hiler, will pay a $1 million civil penalty for allegedly violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), and its implementing Rule, under the terms of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) announced on September 7, 2006.…

On August 22, the manufacturer of a magnetic “fuel saving” and emissions-reduction device that did not save fuel or reduce emissions will pay $4.2 million to settle Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) charges that his advertising claims were false. The FTC will seek to provide redress to consumers who bought the device based on the false…

The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint on August 15 in U.S. district court, seeking to halt an operation that downloads software barraging consumers with pop-ups demanding payment to make the pop-ups go away. The Office of the Attorney General of the State of Washington also sued the operators. The FTC's complaint asked the court…

In an August 14 letter to the FCC, internet video distributor VDC Corp. (“VDC”), owner of VDC.com, complained that it is having difficulty securing carriage deals with established cable networks. While VDC.com distributes content from Discovery Communications, most of the company's carriage deals are with smaller cable networks such as The Pentagon Channel and Mav…

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced on August 10 that it entered into a court settlement with Nomrah Records, Inc. and its president, Mark Harmon – named defendants in the recent DIRECTV telemarketing case. Under the settlement, filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on the FTC's behalf, Harmon will pay a $75,000 civil penalty…

An operation selling Chinese herbal supplements was banned on August 9 from claiming its products treated or cured diseases, to settle Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) charges it violated a previous court order. The FTC alleged the sellers of Dia-Cope, a pill claimed to prevent, treat, and cure diabetes, violated the order by misrepresenting the health…

The Federal Trade Commission will host three days of public hearings to examine how evolving technology will shape and change the habits, opportunities and challenges of consumers and businesses in the coming decade. The event will bring together experts from business, government and technology sectors, consumer advocates, academicians, and law enforcement officials to examine emerging…

On July 31, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia barred a purported former preacher, his two sons, and his companies from selling a healthcare business opportunity promising consumers millions of dollars if they participated in an alleged network of Medicaid providers. In fact, according to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) complaint,…