Federal Trade Commission

McManus: Obama's war on red tape

2013-04-28 00:00:00

Here are three things the Obama administration has done that you probably didn't know about: Ever struggle with those accordion-style rubber sleeves on nozzles at the gas station? The sleeve — technically a "vapor recovery nozzle" — was...

Tribes' payday loans under scrutiny

2013-04-29 18:10:00

A growing number of Indian tribes are getting into the payday loan business, saying they just want to raise revenue for their reservations while helping cash-strapped consumers nationwide. But federal officials suspect that, at least in some cases,...

FTC calls on online ad industry to agree on do-not-track standard

2013-04-17 15:41:00

SAN FRANCISCO -- New Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez had some tough words on "do not track" in her first speech to the advertising industry. Ramirez on Wednesday urged the industry to give consumers "effective and meaningful privacy...

Google's Android is target of new antitrust complaint in Europe

2013-04-09 09:21:00

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google Inc. is under fire from a coalition of companies including Microsoft Corp. which have called on European antitrust authorities to launch an investigation into the Internet giant's dominance on smartphones. The FairSearch group...

The FTC, Twitter and the nanny state

2013-03-13 07:27:00

The Federal Trade Commission revised its guidelines for digital advertisers Tuesday, clarifying what the agency expects by way of disclosures on Twitter and in texts. In a nutshell, it said that even brief marketing messages have to make "clear and...

FTC warns advertisers to keep mobile ads clear and truthful

2013-03-12 14:12:00

SAN FRANCISCO -- With consumers increasingly connecting to the Internet on their phones and tablet computers, advertisers got a reminder from the federal government Tuesday that they must still abide by consumer protection laws when putting ads on...

Data theft: Guess who the FTC is targeting?

2013-02-22 16:36:00

The Federal Trade Commission opened a potentially significant new front Friday in its efforts to protect consumers against data theft. The commission announced a settlement with mobile device manufacturer HTC America that requires the company to plug...

Anthem halts plan to require some drug purchases by mail

2013-02-19 19:48:00

Anthem Blue Cross is backing off a decision to require some policyholders to buy their prescription drugs from a single mail-order pharmacy — a requirement that the California attorney general's office said may be illegal. Anthem, California's...

Consumers need better way to fix credit reporting errors

2013-02-18 19:30:00

About 10 million consumers, through no fault of their own, have serious errors on their credit reports, raising troubling questions about people's ability to secure loans and the fairness of interest rates they're charged. In the first study of its...

FCC needs to stop 'cramming' on cellphones

2013-03-28 00:00:00

Wen Chao received a text message on her iPhone the other day from something called Ringtunecloud.com. It offered mobile content, such as ring tones, for $9.99 a month. Chao, 43, ignored it. About an hour and a half later, she received a more ambiguous...

An insider's view of generic-drug pricing

2013-03-25 18:50:00

Bob Toomajian worked for 16 years as Kaiser Permanente's drug purchasing manager for Southern California, giving him an insider's knowledge of how medications are priced before reaching consumers. When it comes to patented name-brand drugs, he told me,...

FTC says 5.2% of consumers had significant errors on credit reports

2013-02-11 08:19:00

WASHINGTON -- About one in 20 consumers had significant errors on their credit reports that could cause them to pay more for auto loans and other financial products, according to a Federal Trade Commission report released Monday. The study also found...

The Federal Trade Commission is reminding advertisers to abide by consumer protection laws when advertising on mobile devices.

2013-03-12 13:50:11

Outgoing Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz called on the fast-growing mobile device marketplace to do a better job of alerting consumers to what the various market players do with their personal information.

2013-02-01 09:04:09

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz discusses the commission's actions against Google during a news conference in Washington, D.C., Thursday.

2013-01-04 00:00:00