Calvin Cohen writes:
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) is soliciting public comments on a petition filed by Sears Holdings Management (“Sears”) to reopen and modify a 2009 FTC order regarding the tracking of personal information on their software apps. The petition is notable for a number of reasons. First, the Sears consent order was a seminal order in the development of the FTC’s privacy jurisdiction, standing for the proposition that a company cannot “bury” disclosures that consumers would not expect in long privacy notices. Second, the concept of modifying 20-year consent orders is an important one in light of changes over time. Third, the petition seeks to correct the unintended consequences that a consent order can have on future technologies when such an order regulates present ones.
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