A Blog About FTC regulations and happenings

While the world is uni-focused on the Corona virus, companies doing business in California and impacted by the California Consumer Privacy Act must face another dizzying round of revisions to the California Attorney General’s draft implementing regulations. The AG released its latest set of revisions on March 11, providing an additional notice and comment period… Read More

Can the free market weigh in on data privacy and further data privacy rights in way that the law cannot? Can the free market put control over people’s data back in individuals’ hands? Many of us have been waiting for a market solution to address the privacy of personal data. As attorneys, we know from… Read More

When it is not clear which way to go, don’t. This is the upshot of an article by Wojciech Wiewiorowski: Facial recognition: A solution in search of a problem? Wiewiorowski is the Assistant Supervisor at the European Data Protection Supervisor (the E.U.’s independent data protection authority), which published his article on their site in late… Read More

On October 11, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a lawsuit against Telegram Group, Inc. and TON Issuer, Inc. (“Telegram”), and simultaneously obtained a temporary restraining order preventing Telegram from issuing its “Gram” cryptocurrency, which had been scheduled for delivery on October 31, 2019.  The SEC claimed that the sale of Grams amount… Read More

The FTC held three panels on Wednesday, August 7, 2019, that centered on one topic: loot boxes earned or purchased during online game play. It’s clear from the selection of panelists and the questions posed by FTC staff that the FTC is on high alert about potential consumer protection issues surrounding these in-game purchases.  If… Read More

On July 25, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance issued a letter to Pocketful of Quarters, Inc. (PoQ), informing PoQ that it would not recommend enforcement action in regards to PoQ’s proposal to sell tokens (called Quarters) on its gaming platform.  The SEC informed PoQ that based on PoQ’s description of… Read More

It’s been a busy summer for the FTC and the federal agency is dominating the headlines. There is the $5 billion settlement with Facebook for failing to better protect user privacy, which was announced earlier this month. Then there is the multimillion dollar settlement with Google for failing to adequately protect children’s privacy. That was… Read More

Although the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) limits the ways in which companies may contact individuals via automated dialers, with prerecorded messages, or via text message, one of its hallmarks is that companies are entitled to contact consumers who have provided their express consent to be called.  However, in 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”)… Read More

Crypto exchange Bittrex made news this week when it announced its first initial exchange offering (IEO), which it was to host through its Malta-based affiliate Bittrex International.  Bittrex planned to offer its registered members the opportunity to buy RAID’s XRD token.  RAID is an international gaming data blockchain project, with the goal to create a… Read More