LabMD litigation against FTC lingers
Although the Federal Trade Commission won its effort to quash a lawsuit over its probe of LabMD, the now-defunct medical laboratory is still trying to sue three agency employees.
The pushback on convenience, resort and junk fees
Unexpected, surreptitious fees in retail transactions — additions like “convenience fees” and “resort fees” — have proliferated wildly over the past 30 years. When they aren’t clearly disclosed at the start of a transaction, their omission can deceive consumers and distort the purchase decision....
Current Issue: 887
Just around the corner: FTC lawsuits targeting native ads
In the two years since the Federal Trade Commission held a daylong workshop that focused on the increasingly blurred lines between advertisements and independent editorial content in digital media,...
Taking the humble approach: An in-depth Q&A with Maureen Ohlhausen
Federal Trade Commission member Maureen Ohlhausen thinks that regulators are at their best when they approach issues with humility. As the panel’s lone Republican (a seat on the commission is...
It’s a women’s world at the FTC
Former Federal Trade Commission member Joshua Wright was barely out of the building in August when the women he left behind — the four remaining commissioners at the agency — noted with some degree...
New prescriptions proposed for Eyeglass Rule
About 158 million Americans wear glasses, so it’s not surprising that Federal Trade Commission officials are seeing double in the wake of a request for public comments on proposed changes to the...
Defense Department seeking more power on defense industry deals
There could be another federal department entering the antitrust turf war and this one is the governmental equivalent of the proverbial 800-pound gorilla.
Critics take aim at FTC report that puts companies on notice about wrongful use of Big Data
Sixteen months ago, the Federal Trade Commission held a workshop on “Big Data: A Tool for Inclusion or Exclusion” that examined the impact of the immense collection and analysis of data on...