Tag Archives: Privacy Policy

FTC Files Complaint Against Wyndham Hotels

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On June 26, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had filed suit against Wyndham Worldwide Corporation and three of its subsidiaries (“Wyndham”) alleging failures to maintain reasonable security that led to three separate data breaches involving hackers accessing sensitive consumer data. The FTC’s complaint claims that Wyndham violated the FTC Act by posting misleading representations on Wyndham websites regarding how the company safeguarded customer information, and by failing to provide reasonable security for personal information it collected. According to the complaint, these alleged security failures led to unauthorized exposure of Wyndham’s customers’ personal information and caused financial injury to consumers and businesses through fraudulent charges and other costs.

Tags: Consent Order, Consumer Protection, Enforcement, Federal Trade Commission, Hacker, Information Security, Payment Card, Personally Identifiable Information, Privacy Policy, Security Breach

NTIA Launches Development Process for Privacy Code of Conduct for Mobile Apps

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On June 15, 2012, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (“NTIA”) announced that, in response to a substantial number of comments it received regarding mobile privacy issues, it will convene its first multistakeholder meeting on July 12 to begin the process of developing a code of conduct that promotes transparency in the mobile application context.

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Tags: Consumer Protection, Department of Commerce, Enforcement, Federal Trade Commission, Mobile App, Mobile Device, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Privacy Policy, U.S. Federal Law

FTC Reaches Settlement with Myspace for Misleading Statements in Privacy Policy

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On May 8, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement agreement with the social networking service Myspace LLC (“Myspace”). The FTC alleged that Myspace’s practice of sharing users’ personal information with unaffiliated third-party advertisers conflicted with representations the company made in its privacy policy, and could allow those advertisers to obtain users’ names, publicly available information and information about their online browsing habits.

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Tags: Anonymization, Behavioral Advertising, Consent Order, Cookies, Encryption, Enforcement, Federal Trade Commission, Marketing, MySpace, Personally Identifiable Information, Privacy Policy, Safe Harbor, Social Media

RockYou Settles FTC Charges Related to Data Breach, COPPA Violations

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On March 27, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission announced a proposed settlement order with RockYou, Inc. (“RockYou”), a publisher and developer of applications used on popular social media sites. The FTC alleged that RockYou failed to protect the personal information of 32 million of its users, and violated multiple provisions of the FTC’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) Rule when it collected information from approximately 179,000 children.

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Tags: Consent Order, Consumer Protection, COPPA, Enforcement, Federal Trade Commission, Hacker, Information Security, Penalty, Privacy Policy, Security Breach, Social Media, U.S. Federal Law

FTC Settles COPPA Violation Charges Against Children’s Social Networking Website

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On November 8, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission announced that the operator of skidekids.com, a social networking website that advertises itself as the “Facebook and Myspace for Kids,” has agreed to settle charges that he collected personal information from approximately 5,600 children without parental consent, in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) Rule. The proposed settlement will bar future violations of COPPA and misrepresentations about the collection, use and disclosure of children’s information.

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Tags: Consent Order, Consumer Protection, COPPA, Federal Trade Commission, Online Privacy, Penalty, Privacy Policy, Safe Harbor, Social Media

Use of Google Analytics Now Lawful in Germany, Subject to Certain Guidelines

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On September 15, 2011, the data protection authority of the German federal state of Hamburg (the “DPA”) published a press release confirming that Google has significantly improved compliance with respect to the implementation of Google Analytics in Germany.  This finding is the result of two years of fruitful dialog between Google and the DPA, which was acting on behalf of the conference of German data protection authorities responsible for the private sector (the “Düsseldorfer Kreis”).

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Tags: Anonymization, Data Controller, Data Processor, Data Protection Authority, European Union, Germany, Google, International, Online Privacy, Privacy Policy

Outsourcers Exempt from India’s Privacy Regulations

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On August 24, 2011, the Government of India’s Ministry of Communications & Information Technology issued a clarification regarding India’s new privacy regulations, known as the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 (the “Rules”), under Section 43A of the Information Technology Act 2000.

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Tags: Data Transfer, India, Information Security, International, Outsourcing, Privacy Policy

Representative Mary Bono Mack Releases Discussion Draft of the SAFE Data Act

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On June 13, 2011, Representative Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) released a discussion draft of the Secure and Fortify Data Act (the “SAFE Data Act”), which is designed to “protect consumers by requiring reasonable security policies and procedures to protect data containing personal information, and to provide for nationwide notice in the event of a security breach.”  Representative Bono Mack is Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade.  In a press release, Representative Bono Mack remarked that “E-commerce is a vital and growing part of our economy.  We should take steps to embrace and protect it – and that starts with robust cyber security.”  She added that “consumers have a right to know when their personal information has been compromised, and companies and other organizations have an overriding responsibility to promptly alert them.”

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Tags: Consumer Protection, Credit Monitoring, Credit Report, Cybersecurity, Enforcement, Federal Trade Commission, Gramm Leach Bliley Act, HIPAA, Identity Theft, Information Security, Legislation, Online Privacy, Payment Card, Privacy Policy, Security Breach, Social Security Number, State Attorneys General, U.S. Federal Law

Senators Franken and Blumenthal Co-Sponsor Location Privacy Protection Act

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On June 15, 2011, Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced the Location Privacy Protection Act of 2011 (the “Act”).  As we reported previously, Senator Franken is chairman of the newly-created Senate subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law.   In his press release, Senator Franken explained that the Act is designed to “close current loopholes in federal law” while giving customers the ability to learn about and prevent the collection of their location information.  The Act would apply only to non-government entities and would not impact law-enforcement activities.  At a May 10, 2011 hearing, both Google and Apple were questioned about their privacy practices, and Franken subsequently challenged them to require their application developers to adopt clear and understandable privacy policies.

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Tags: Al Franken, Apple Inc., Class Action, Consumer Protection, Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Enforcement, Google, Legislation, Litigation, Privacy Policy, Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Federal Law, Video Privacy Protection Act

India Drafts New Privacy Regulations

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On April 11, 2011, India adopted new privacy regulations, known as the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 (the “Rules”).  The Rules are final versions of the draft regulations issued in February 2011 and impose wide-ranging obligations on any “body corporate” (company) that “collects, receives, possesses, stores, deals or handles” personal information.  These obligations require companies to provide privacy policies, restrict the processing of sensitive personal data, restrict international data transfers and require additional security measures.  The Rules introduce an omnibus privacy law that is similar in many respects to existing EU data protection law, but which raises some fundamental challenges for India’s numerous outsourcing vendors, and their customers.

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Tags: Data Transfer, India, Information Security, International, Outsourcing, Privacy Policy