Business Blog

Given the injury and irritation inflicted on consumers by buried terms, hidden charges, and complicated cancellation procedures, it’s no wonder they’re called “negative” options. A federal court...

Earnest chats with objects are not so unusual. Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, the famed Detroit Tiger, used to stand on the pitching mound whispering to the baseball. Forky, the highly animate utensil from...

Housing costs take a big bite out of most Americans’ budgets, especially consumers looking for a suitable place to live during a fluctuating rental market. That’s why the FTC has particular concerns...

If your business is covered by the FTC’s Gramm-Leach Bliley Safeguards Rule, an amendment to the Rule that requires covered companies to report certain data breaches and other security events to the...

Aqua Finance provided financing for water treatment equipment sold door-to-door by dealers. But according to the FTC, the company filtered out the truth and left a sediment of deceptive and unfair...

According to Aesop, you’re known by the company you keep. Put in the FTC context, you’re known by the companies you keep as clients. That’s the message of a $10 million proposed settlement with...

We’re delighted to celebrate National Small Business Week from April 28th to May 4th. The FTC is proud to champion the interests of small businesses throughout the year by challenging unfair or...

We usually wait until the end of a Business Blog post before offering a compliance pointer or two. But this time let’s lead off with two lessons that companies can learn from the FTC’s record-setting...

It was Shakespeare who said, “Once more unto the breach.” The FTC’s goal is never more unto the breach, but until companies keep health data secure and private, we’ll continue to update and enforce...

It's a recurring trope in caper movies. An unsuspecting person exits an airplane, sees a driver with their name on a sign, and thinks they’re getting transportation to their destination. Of course...

What will it take to get businesses to honor the promises they make about the privacy of consumers’ health data? Multiple FTC law enforcement actions in the past year? Two more cases against companies...

We like to think the FTC Business Blog offers an occasional notable quote – or quotable note – on the issues businesses and consumers are talking about. Right now no topic is more top-of-mind than...

Voice cloning: A boon for people with medical issues or an AI-enabled bonanza for scammers? The answer depends on who’s using the technology and how they’re using it. That’s why the FTC is taking a...

Is the person who contacted your employee really from the IRS or Social Security Administration? And what about those calls and texts to consumers claiming to be from your company? The FTC’s new Trade...

Business executives, tech professionals, and the attorneys who represent them need to stay current on what’s happened – and what’s happening – at the FTC when it comes to privacy and data security...

Finding healthcare coverage can be a challenge for many Americans, including gig workers, the self-employed, and people at small businesses. So when consumers were looking for health insurance under...

Tick. Tick. Tick. For small business owners, gig workers, and freelancers fighting for survival during the pandemic, every day that passed without essential capital put their futures at risk. So when...

For small businesses struggling to stay afloat during COVID, time was of the essence. When help materialized in the form of the emergency Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) administered by the Small...

Think about the two women across from you in the office. Now consider the sobering statistic that of those two women, one will battle cancer in her lifetime. The bad news gets worse when you realize...

The FTC just announced final updates to the Telemarketing Sales Rule and there’s an important revision that will help protect small businesses from scammers making misrepresentations in B2B calls. But...