We posted earlier this year about increased scrutiny of cryptocurrency advertising, especially the promotion of Initial Coin Offerings, or ICOs. The key takeaway from that post was that the frenzy around cryptocurrencies – including as an investment opportunity for individuals who aren’t otherwise active investors – has led to a number of efforts to curtail cryptocurrency promotion, from both regulators and industry stakeholders.… More
Crypto is a Greek prefix meaning “secret” or “hidden.” Unless you live under a rock, or in one of several countries like Bolivia where buying and selling it is illegal, there is nothing secret or hidden about cryptocurrency. It’s everywhere. And public interest in cryptocurrency has led to lots of advertising, mostly on social media and the internet.
Spurred on by an incredible—some might say too-good-to-be-true—increase in value in late 2017,… More
In Case You Missed It
The FTC settled with mobile advertising company InMobi for $950,000 in civil penalties, along with the implementation of a privacy program, based on the FTC’s charges that InMobi impermissibly tracked the locations of both adult and child consumers for the purpose of geo-targeted advertising. The latter, of course, also implicated allegations of violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rule. … More
Remember in late October, when Google and Facebook issued new policies enabling them to use adults’ and minors’ data for advertising purposes? Initial reports suggested there could be a big hue and cry among consumers. At the time, I was quoted by Law360 saying:
“They’re absolutely testing the boundaries from not only a legal standpoint, but also from a public acceptance standpoint,” said Foley Hoag LLP privacy and data security practice co-chair Colin Zick.… More
At the end of what was an interesting, but rather ordinary interview in the Wall Street Journal, FTC Chair Jon Leibowitz dropped this interesting nugget:
MS. ANGWIN: The EU has a very different approach to privacy, and there has been concern about whether we’re going to move in that direction. What’s your view?
MR. LEIBOWITZ: My sense is you might see Europe moving a little bit more to our approach of allowing some advertising and allowing some collection of data.… More