FTC Approves Final Orders Settling Charges of US-EU Safe Harbor Violations Against 14 Companies

After a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved final orders that settle charges against 14 companies for falsely claiming to participate in the international privacy framework known as the US-EU Safe Harbor.

Three of the companies were also charged with similar violations related to the US-Swiss Safe Harbor.

The FTC previously announced the settlements in January, February and May of 2014 with the following companies: American Apparel, Apperian, Atlanta Falcons Football Club, Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, BitTorrent, Charles River Laboratories International, DataMotion, DDC Laboratories, Fantage, Level 3 Communications, PDB Sports, d/b/a Denver Broncos Football Club, Reynolds Consumer Products, Receivable Management Services Corporation, and Tennessee Football.

Under the settlements, the companies are prohibited from misrepresenting the extent to which they participate in any privacy or data security program sponsored by the government or any other self-regulatory or standard-setting organization.