Consumer Protection

Read Labor & Employment Law updates, alerts, news, and legal analysis from leading lawyers and law firms:

News & Analysis as of May 25, 2013

Is Equifax Selling Your Salary Information?

by Jeff Ifrah on 3/11/2013

According to a recent NBC News report, Equifax, one of the three largest American credit reporting agencies, has assembled an enormous database containing employment and salary information for more than 190 million U.S....more

Criminal Background Checks? The FTC Knows There’s an App for That

by Jeff Ifrah on 1/25/2013

As we cautioned in a September post, the FTC is stepping up enforcement actions against mobile app developers for failure to comply with consumer protection principles. This month, the FTC took another major step in that...more

FTC Expands FCRA Coverage to Mobile Industry – Employers Beware

by Allana Grinshteyn, Fredric Leffler, Lawrence Lorber, Marc Mandelman, Katharine Parker, Daniel Saperstein, Leslie Silverman, Allan Weitzman | Proskauer Rose LLP on 1/23/2013

The Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") recently extended the reach of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA") to the mobile industry by means of a consent order, settling its complaint that alleged Respondents Filiquarian...more

Mobile App Disclaimers Not Sufficient to Circumvent FCRA Requirements

by Karen H Bromberg | Cohen & Gresser LLP on 1/18/2013

The Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement last week with a mobile app company, its data provider, and their CEO in its first Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) enforcement action involving mobile applications. The...more

Update: Spokeo Settles with the FTC for $800,000

by Angela Bosworth on 6/12/2012

Today marks a first for the FTC, which announced a settlement with Spokeo to the tune of $800,000. This is the first case of it's kind, involving the investigation of a web-based search engine by the FTC, resulting in a big...more

Spokeo: Back on the Hot Seat in the 9th Circuit

by Angela Bosworth on 6/11/2012

So what is a site like Spokeo? A CRA? A data broker? Just a search engine? None of the above? The 9th Circuit is being ask to revive a case alleging that the site is used by employers to conduct background checks, and...more

Massachusetts’ Data Security Regulation: Important Deadline Approaching

by Ropes & Gray LLP on 2/10/2012

The deadline for compliance with a key requirement of the Massachusetts Data Security Regulation, 201 CMR 17.00 et seq. (the “Regulation”) is less than a month away. The Regulation requires that by March 1,...more

The Encryption “Magic Bullet”

by Poyner Spruill LLP on 9/23/2010

Every organization in business today is holding personal information about individuals. Whether they are consumers, customers, clients, patients, employees, or business partners, you collect a mass of personal information...more