The Federal Trade Commission will be holding a workshop in Washington, D.C. on
October 30, 2015 to explore the growing use of online lead generation in various industries, including consumer lending. The workshop is free and open to the public.

Participants in the workshop, “Follow the Lead: An FTC Workshop About Online Lead Generation,” will include industry representatives, consumer advocates, and government regulators. The workshop will focus on consumer protection issues raised by the practices of the lead generation industry, such as what types of lead generation conduct may be unlawful under the FTC Act’s prohibition against unfair or deceptive practices.

We recently blogged about a lead generation company that filed a petition with the CFPB to modify or set aside a civil investigative demand (CID). Among the arguments made in the petition for why the CID should be set aside is that the company is neither a “service provider” nor “covered person” as defined in Dodd-Frank. It will be interesting to see if the government regulators participating in the workshop include a CFPB representative.