An Apple customer sued the company to retrieve 20 years’ worth of private and personal data after losing all access to his AppleID due to “a series of unfortunate events,” according to the customer's complaint Friday (docket 24-cv-433194) in Santa Clara County Superior Court.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss for the District of Columbia granted Meta’s consent motion for a stay, through the close of business March 22, the deadline for Meta to respond to the FTC’s May 3 order to show cause why the commission shouldn’t modify its 2020 privacy consent order and enter the new restrictions on Meta’s business activities, said the judge’s signed order (docket 1:23-cv-03562).
Two Cyprus-based entities, Restoro and Reimage, operating as a “common enterprise,” agreed to pay the FTC $26 million to resolve allegations they ran a phony computer tech support scheme since January 2018 that bilked tens of millions of dollars from consumers, in violation of the FTC Act and the commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, said their proposed stipulated order Thursday (docket 1:24-cv-00735) in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Political consultant Steve Kramer, broadband provider Lingo Telecom and robocall broadcaster Life Corp sent “thousands of robocalls” two days before the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary to people they thought were likely Democratic voters, featuring deepfake simulations of the voice of President Joe Biden, alleged a complaint Thursday (docket 1:24-cv-00073) in U.S. District Court for New Hampshire in Concord.
Marketing firm AddShoppers “illicitly tracks persons across the internet, collects their personal information without consent,” and uses it to send direct solicitations, alleged a Friday class action (docket 2:24-cv-01022) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia against AddShoppers, Nutrisystem and Vivint.
People should be able to watch films “without the whole world knowing,” said a Video Privacy Protection Act class action Friday (docket 2:24-cv-00316) in U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle.
Good cause exists for the court to grant the FTC’s Feb. 9 motion to unseal eight documents in the agency’s case against Kochava, said a docket entry order Tuesday (docket 2:22-cv-00377) from U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill for Idaho in Coeur d’Alene. “Neither party has objected to the unsealing of these documents,” said the FTC’s motion. Among the newly unsealed documents are Kochava’s July 5 motion to dismiss the FTC’s first amended complaint, and the FTC’s Aug. 9 response in opposition. The judge denied Kochava’s motion to dismiss in a Feb. 3 order (see 2402060041). The FTC sued Kochava in August 2022 for allegedly selling vast amounts of personal information about millions of people. The agency alleges that the data can reveal a person’s sensitive information, including religious affiliations, sexual orientation and medical conditions, and by selling that data, Kochava arguably invades consumers’ privacy and exposes them to significant risks of secondary harms.
Amazon is seeking narrow categories of documents demonstrating the “ambiguity and lack of consensus” surrounding the FTC’s “unprecedented application” of the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA) in its case against Amazon Prime, it said Friday. Amazon filed its reply (docket 2:23-cv-00932) in U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle in support of its motion to compel production of FTC communications and internal documents (see 2310200061). The company contends its Prime enrollment and cancellation processes don’t violate ROSCA. It claims those processes prominently and repeatedly disclose key terms like Prime’s price and automatic renewal feature, confirming that they comply with current law. The FTC doesn’t deny the documents exist or argue undue burden, said Amazon’s reply. Instead, the FTC argues that its discussions about ROSCA are irrelevant because ROSCA is clear on its face, it said. But less than a year ago, the FTC said the opposite, that new regulations are needed because the current framework, including ROSCA, doesn’t provide clarity, it said. That “contradiction alone” is reason to grant Amazon’s motion to compel, it said. Amazon must be permitted to secure information that will "impeach or contradict" the FTC’s case, it said. The agency is wrong that the documents have nothing to do with this case, it said. They are relevant to show the FTC “has manufactured a legal standard here that does not exist in the law,” Amazon said. They are also relevant “to undermine the FTC’s litigation positions and cross-examine witnesses about what the FTC now says ROSCA requires,” as well as to Amazon’s arguments that it lacked fair notice of and didn't knowingly violate a law that the agency has acknowledged isn't established, said the replay. The FTC must produce the four categories of requested documents, it said.
The office of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) and robocall defendant Smartbiz Telecom seek a continuance of their trial for at least 90 days, said their joint motion Feb. 13 for continuance (docket 1:22-cv-23945) in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in Miami. The court on Nov. 30 rescheduled the trial to start during the two-week period beginning March 4. The trial is set for a five-day period and will involve “novel and complex technical and legal issues” unique to the telecom field and federal law and regulation, it said. The continuance is being requested so that Smartbiz can secure additional counsel for the trial, and numerous technical issues in the cross motions for summary judgment can be resolved on their merits at trial, said the motion. The extension is sought “in good faith and not for purposes of delay.” Moody’s December 2022 complaint alleges that Smartbiz is “one of the most prolific transmitters of illegal robocalls” in the U.S., and that the VoIP company violated the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act and other statutes, plus the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule (see 2212060034).
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