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Pause Play? CFPB Gaming-Related Rules on Hold
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February 12, 2025
Pause Play? CFPB Gaming-Related Rules on Hold
By: Michelle Cohen
Newly installed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) Director Russell Vought directed agency staff to stop work on agency matters and stay home. The future of many of the CFPB-led initiatives looks bleak, including a recent interpretive rule proposal that would treat video game publishers like payment processors. Background Congress created the CFPB, an independent federal agency, in 2011 in response to the financial crisis of 2007-08. The agency oversees federal financial consumer protection laws and has jurisdiction over a wide range of entities, including mortgage lenders and brokers, student loan issuers, and other financial institutions. In 2024, the CFPB began to focus on an unlikely target – video game companies. The agency started monitoring developments in the video game industry…
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Death of the CFPB and Impact on Consumer Arbitration
February 11, 2025
Death of the CFPB and Impact on Consumer Arbitration
By: George Calhoun
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) has spent years trying to limit provisions that may be placed into consumer contracts, particularly with regard to class-action waivers, arbitration, and damages limitations. In 2015, the CFPB conducted a study of consumer arbitration clauses. Notably, the CFPB’s study found that few class action cases proceed to trial, but in those that do, trial lawyers make $1 million per…
Cancelling Subscriptions Could be Easier, or Maybe Signing Up Will Get Harder
January 15, 2025
Cancelling Subscriptions Could be Easier, or Maybe Signing Up Will Get Harder
By: Jordan Briggs
Drawn in by the appeal of steady revenue, nearly three-quarters of direct-to-consumer companies now include a subscription model.[1] Everything has a subscription these days: video games, groceries, dating apps—you can even subscribe to a service to cancel your other subscriptions.[2] These subscriptions were not deterred from joining their most prominent predecessor (the gym membership) as an age-old punchline about how hard they are to cancel….
New TCPA Changes Going into Effect Soon – What They Mean
August 27, 2013
New TCPA Changes Going into Effect Soon – What They Mean
By: Ifrah Law
On October 16, 2013, two changes will go into effect in the rules implementing the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Importantly, these rules impose stricter requirements on mobile messaging and prerecorded telemarketing calls. The rule changes, announced back in February 2012, may spur further litigation concerning the scope of the TCPA. All businesses should review the new requirements to ensure compliance or risk significant…
FTC ‘Checks’ In With $3.5 Million Consent Order Under Fair Credit Reporting Act
August 16, 2013
FTC ‘Checks’ In With $3.5 Million Consent Order Under Fair Credit Reporting Act
By: Ifrah Law
This week the Federal Trade Commission entered into a consent decree with Certegy Check Services, one of the nation’s check authorization service companies, pursuant to which Certegy has agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle charges that it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). This massive penalty – the second largest ever – reinforces the perception that the FTC will continue vigorous enforcement against…
Google Glass Sounds Exciting — But What About Privacy?
July 18, 2013
Google Glass Sounds Exciting — But What About Privacy?
By: Ifrah Law
Beta testing is underway for Google Glass, a new technology that provides the functionality of a smartphone in a headset worn like glasses. Much like a smartphone, the Glass headset is able to exchange messages with other mobile devices, take pictures, record videos, and access search engines to respond to user queries. But unlike a smartphone, the device’s optical head-mounted display, voice recognition, and front-facing…
FTC to Search Engines: Distinguish Paid Search Results or Risk FTC Action
June 30, 2013
FTC to Search Engines: Distinguish Paid Search Results or Risk FTC Action
By: Michelle Cohen
While Google is already subject to commitments it made to the FTC regarding the requirement to afford advertisers non-discriminatory access to its search engine, the FTC’s latest guidance makes clear that Google and other search engines must also maintain clear disclosures to the public about sponsored content in search results. On June 24, 2013, in a series of letters to general search engines such as…
Affiliate Marketers Need to Be Aware of the CFTC
June 23, 2013
Affiliate Marketers Need to Be Aware of the CFTC
By: Ifrah Law
Some affiliate marketers have recently gotten involved in the risky world of online trading. Online trading, particularly the trading of binary options, has become an attractive alternative for some affiliate marketers to traditional forms of online marketing. However, those companies that do get involved in this market must be aware of the presence of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates these markets….