Here’s why the FTC couldn’t fine a flashlight app for allegedly sharing user location data

[Commentary] The Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with the company behind a popular Android flashlight app recently, resolving allegations that the up to 100 million users who downloaded the app had their location tracked and shared with third parties without appropriate disclosure or consent. That sounds like a pretty big deal, right? But under the terms of the settlement, the firm won't face a very harsh punishment. It will have to rewrite its privacy policy to disclose that its users' geo-location and device ID data are shared with third parties (including advertising networks), agree to delete the personal information it already has about its users, and enter into an enforcement agreement with the FTC for the next several years.

But there won't be a fine. Why not? According to David Jacobs, Consumer Protection Counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), it all has to do with how the FTC's consumer protection authorities are set up. Under the FTC's broadest enforcement power, the FTC doesn't have the power to fine companies for a first offense.