Privacy Lessons From FTC Settlement With Chinese Toymaker
Companies have been closely watching how the Federal Trade Commission under President Donald Trump will approach consumer protection issues.
In September, the Apitor Technology Children's Online Privacy Protection Act settlement with the agency gave us some guidance.
In reviewing United States of America v. Apitor Technology Co. Ltd., in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, it is helpful to keep in mind the current makeup of the agency.
While the FTC is typically led by five commissioners from both sides of the aisle, there have been no Democratic commissioners since March. Instead, Republican commissioners fill three of the five seats, with two being vacant, and one of those three was not appointed by Trump.
The case before the commission was brought under COPPA, a law that dates to the early days of the internet.
For the reasons outlined below, the settlement suggests that, moving forward, the agency may focus on situations where children's information is sent offshore, companies use software development kits on kids' sites or apps, or companies passively collect personal information from children.
Click here to read the full article.