Teach Your Dad About Phishing this Fathers Day

The Federal Trade Commission’s Father’s Day e-card is the perfect gift for the man who already has enough ties. But even more important, it can save your dad a whole lot of headaches. Available from the FTC in English and Spanish at http://www.ftc.gov/dad and http://www.ftc.gov/padre, the cards offer dads advice on keeping their personal information […]

FTC Approves Final Consent Order Related to Reed Elsevier NV and ChoicePoint Inc.

For Your Information June 5, 2009 Following a public comment period, the Commission has approved a final consent order in the matter of Reed Elsevier NV and ChoicePoint Inc. and authorized the staff to send letters to the commenters of record. The vote approving the final order was 4-0. (FTC File No. 081-0133; the staff […]

Sears Settles FTC Charges Regarding Tracking Software

Sears Holdings Management Corporation – owned by Sears, Roebuck and Company and Kmart Management Corporation – has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it failed to disclose adequately the scope of consumers’ personal information it collected via a downloadable software application. According to the FTC’s administrative complaint, Sears represented to consumers that the […]

FTC Settles Price-Fixing Charges Against San Francisco Bay Area Doctors Group

Alta Bates Medical Group, Inc. (Alta Bates), a 600-physician independent practice association serving the Berkeley and Oakland, California, area, has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated federal antitrust law by fixing prices charged to health care insurers. A proposed consent order would prohibit Alta Bates from collectively negotiating fee-for-service reimbursements and […]

FTC Shuts Down Notorious Rogue Internet Service Provider, 3FN Service Specializes in Hosting Spam-Spewing Botnets, Phishing Web sites, Child Pornography, and Other Illegal, Malicious Web Content

A rogue Internet Service Provider that recruits, knowingly hosts, and actively participates in the distribution of spam, child pornography, and other harmful electronic content has been shut down by a district court judge at the request of the Federal Trade Commission. The ISP’s upstream providers and data centers have disconnected its servers from the Internet. […]

FTC Testifies in Support of Bill Banning Pay-for-Delay Settlements Between Brand and Generic Drug Companies

Testifying today on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy, Bureau of Competition Director Richard A. Feinstein said that anticompetitive patent settlements in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry delay consumer access to lower-cost generic drugs, and impose “enormous costs” on consumers; employers; federal, state and […]

FTC Chairman Praises House Subcommittee for Approving Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act of 2009

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz praised the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection Subcommittee for its vote today in favor of the Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act of 2009 (H.R. 1706), which would prohibit “pay-for-delay” patent settlements in which manufacturers of brand-name drugs pay potential generic competitors […]

Commission Approves Amended Complaint in Robocall Case

The FTC has amended the complaint in the action currently pending against Voice Touch, Inc., adding Voice Foundations, LLC as a defendant. The original complaint, filed in May 2009, charged the defendants with operating a massive telemarketing scheme that used random, pre-recorded phone calls to deceive consumers into thinking that their vehicle’s warranty is about […]

FTC Sues to Halt Three Cross-Border Business Directory Scams

The Federal Trade Commission has filed suit to halt the illegal operations of three telemarketing boiler rooms in Montreal, Canada. The agency alleged that the telemarketers bilked thousands of small- and medium-sized U.S. businesses and non-profits, including churches, schools, and charities, out of millions of dollars by deceiving them into paying for listings they never […]