[{"id":3260041,"description":"dc.contributor.author: Larochelle, Vincent dc.date.issued: 2026-10 dc.description.abstract: Ce mémoire analyse la politique linguistique canadienne à travers l’un de ses aspects fondamentaux, celui des langues officielles dans la fonction publique fédérale canadienne. En partant d’une mise en contexte historique couvrant la période allant de la Conquête anglaise à la Révolution tranquille, il rappelle d’abord le contexte social dans lequel évoluaient les Canadiens français et les Canadiens anglais, et auquel la politique linguistique canadienne était censée répondre. Pour évaluer l’efficacité de la politique linguistique canadienne, ce mémoire procède à une analyse inédite de la composition linguistique de la fonction publique canadienne au fil du temps. Cette analyse de données s’étalant sur plus de 50 ans révèle un double constat : si les fonctionnaires francophones sont désormais représentés à la hauteur du poids démographique qu’ils occupent dans la société canadienne, les postes français ont subi un effondrement de près de 70% entre 1973 et 2024, passant de 12,5% à seulement 3,2% de l’ensemble des postes, tandis que les postes anglais demeurent quasi-stables, ne perdant sur la même période que 3,1% de leurs effectifs. Dans une fonction publique censée être bilingue selon la Loi, il y a aujourd’hui 15 fois plus de postes anglais que de postes français. Il y a par ailleurs six fois moins de postes français dans la fonction publique fédérale canadienne que le poids réel des francophones au sein de la société canadienne. En outre, pour chaque poste anglais disponible pour un fonctionnaire anglophone, le fonctionnaire francophone a accès à 6 fois moins de postes français. Il en résulte que, comme jadis, l’anglais demeure la langue de travail nettement dominante de la fonction publique fédérale, tandis que le français continue d’être marginalisé, en contradiction avec certains des objectifs de la Loi sur les langues officielles.; This master’s thesis analyzes the Canadian language policy through one of its fundamental aspects, official languages within the Canadian federal public service. Starting with a historical overview spanning the period going from the English Conquest to the Quiet Revolution, it first recalls the social context in which French Canadians and English Canadians evolved, and to which the Canadian language policy was supposed to respond. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the Canadian language policy, this thesis carries out an original analysis of the linguistic composition of the federal public service over time. This over 50-year data analysis reveals a dual finding: while francophone public servants are now represented in proportion to their demographic weight in Canadian society, french positions have collapsed by nearly 70% between 1973 and 2024, falling from 12.5% to only 3.2% of all positions, whereas English positions have remained nearly stable, losing only 3.1% of their share over the same period. In a public service that is supposed to be bilingual under the Act, there are today 15 times more English positions than French positions. Moreover, there are six times fewer French positions in the Canadian public service than the actual demographic weight of Francophones in the Canadian society. Furthermore, for every Anglophone public servant who obtains a position in their language, a Francophone public servant has 6 times fewer chances of obtaining a position in their language. As a result, as in the past, English remains the clearly dominant working language of the federal public service, while french continues to be marginalized, in contradiction with some of","source":"Faculté de droit Travaux récents","pubDate":"Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:25:09 +0100","url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1866/46873","titre":"Le français dans la fonction publique fédérale"},{"source":"Judgement Courts Tribunals England Wales","description":"UT ref: UA-2026-000083-PIP In the Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber 28 October 2026 Before: Stewart Wright Judge of the Upper Tribunal Between: LC -v- Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Anonymity Order Appellant: LC Respondents: Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Tribunal: First tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) Tribunal venue: Scarborough Tribunal Case Nos: SC231/24/00181 Tribunal decision date: 29 August 2025 NOTICE: Any breach of this order is liable to be treated as a contempt of court and may be punishable by imprisonment, fine or other sanctions under section 25 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. The maximum punishment that may be imposed is a sentence of two years’ imprisonment or an unlimited fine. It is ordered , under rule 14(1)(b) of the Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal Rules) 2008, that, without the permission of this Tribunal, no one shall disclose or publish the name, or any part of the address, of the appellant in these proceedings or publish or reveal any other information that would be likely to lead to the identification of the appellant. The appellant shall be known as LC. Anyone who objects to this order may apply to the Upper Tribunal for it to be varied or set aside. A copy of this Order shall be published on the website of the Judiciary of England and Wales. REASONS This anonymity order is made on the application of the appellant. It is sought because “the appeal involves a disabled claimant and details of their disability are to reasonably be inferred from a prospectively publicised decision”. I have by a separate decision allowed the appellant’s appeal to the Upper Tribunal. That decision will be published on public facing websites and, if no anonymity order is made, the appellant would be named in that decision. The principle of open justice is of fundamental importance to the justice system. An aspect of open justice is that parties’ names are made public. Derogation from this principle requires justification. Particular regard must be given to the importance of the right to freedom of expression, including the right to publish reports of cases. In this case, I am satisfied that it is necessary to derogate from the open justice principle to the limited extent of not naming the appellant. The appellant has ADHD and anxiety and depression and those features of his health and conditions need to be referred to in the decision on the appeal. In that context, I am satisfied that an anonymity order should be made because I accept a risk of harm could arise for this vulnerable appellant if he was to be identified in these proceedings, because those health details would then be in the public domain. The public interest in open justice and freedom of expression will still be served by this order and the final decision in this appeal being published online. The letters LC are not the appellant’s initials. The post LC v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (anonymity order) appeared first on Courts and Tribunals Judiciary","id":3248599,"url":"https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/lc-v-secretary-of-state-for-work-and-pensions-anonymity-order/","titre":"LC v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (anonymity order)","pubDate":"Thu, 29 Oct 2026 08:01:50 +0100"},{"id":3248546,"description":"How can we encourage women to pursue scientific careers? In recent years, a number of mentoring or awareness campaigns have been put in place to encourage French high school students to study maths, physics or engineering sciences, while they remain underrepresented in these fields. One of the last large-scale initiatives is the Filles et Maths program , launched in 2025, including work on gender bias, the implementation of “role models” or timetables featuring flexible hours. The program was nonetheless met with criticism: while women remain under-represented in some disciplines, they also remain a minority in the highest positions across the board in the academic world, from mathematics to social sciences. In France, gender inequalities are therefore not limited to access to scientific studies: they cut across all university careers and make many women leave French Higher Education and Research before securing tenure. This “drain” is explained by several factors among which motherhood holds an important place. A survey in Denmark illustrates that unlike men, one in three women abandon their scientific career after the birth of their first child. The survey I have been conducting among doctoral students and social scientists highlights the difficulties faced by women who became mothers before becoming permanent employees. Since the 1980s , recruitment requirements have become tougher with candidates needing to have written a good PhD paper, regularly have their work published , participate in scientific events and get involved in the life of research labs. Much of this work falls under hope labour , that is, unpaid work done in the hope of future employment. In this context, what could be called the myth of the “total researcher” takes shape. This is based on the double penalty of being a productive scientist (without necessarily receiving any financial reward) and embodying the ideal of a career woman, devoted companion, and dedicated mother all rolled into one. However, this ideal of the “total researcher” clashes with the actual conditions of scientific work and motherhood. Paying the motherhood penalty in academia Becoming a full-time researcher requires mothers who aren’t tenured researchers to reorganise their lives. Some cram several days’ work into one by doing casual work, part-time teaching, unpaid scientific projects, and parental responsibilities. The pace often makes women work under pressure, sometimes at the expense of the quantity and quality of their scientific work. Other women choose to remain unemployed or take parental leave and thus link their career to that of their spouse if they earn enough. If this strategy of linked career is favourable for scientific production when you have a child, it also creates material dependence that could lead to sexist and sexual violence within the family unit, which this testimony from Jeanne, a doctor and mother of a little girl, illustrates: “I sometimes feel like I have to [‘have sex’], telling myself that ‘I owe him’ and ‘He lets me know it’.” In a professional context , where every moment must count, maternity, parental or sick leave become scientific working hours in themselves. Rebecca, for example, shared that she continued writing her final thesis when her son was sent to hospital in an emergency. This situation feeds a feeling of double guilt: the respondents believe they are never up to par, neither as mothers nor as researchers. Joana explains: “I took parental leave from work, but I feel bad about working when I see my son next to me.” Some non-tenured researcher dads, on the other hand, benefit from an academic paternity bonus. The gendered division of domestic and parental tasks, as well as taking paternity leave, sometimes allows them to devote more time to their research. To quote Marion’s doctor of History husband’s words: “I have completed nearly two articles in one month of paternity leave!” The","source":"The Conversation – Articles (FR)","pubDate":"Thu, 29 Oct 2026 07:58:21 +0100","titre":"The impossible equation of being a researcher mother, striving to make ends meet","url":"https://theconversation.com/the-impossible-equation-of-being-a-researcher-mother-striving-to-make-ends-meet-294312"},{"description":"In almost every context, first impressions are key. I would argue that, for lawyers, communicating clear expectations during that first meeting is an essential skill. It is not a skill that comes easily. I have spoken about this topic with many lawyers over the years. There seems to be a clear divide between newly-called lawyers who have a tendency to make grand promises and seasoned lawyers who temper expectations. There is no “right” or “wrong” approach here. Everyone has to figure out their own style. My own style has been to keep expectations low…. very low. I conduct on average . . . [more] The post Managing Client Expectations appeared first on Slaw","id":3248423,"source":"Slaw","url":"https://www.slaw.ca/2026/10/28/managing-client-expectations/","titre":"Managing Client Expectations","pubDate":"Thu, 29 Oct 2026 07:54:29 +0100"},{"pubDate":"Mon, 26 Oct 2026 07:55:59 +0100","url":"https://www.callacbd.ca/CALL-Blog/13759668","titre":"President's Message / Message de la présidente","source":"Canadian Association of Law Libraries / L'Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit CALL/ACBD Blog","id":3241559,"description":"Le texte français suit. Dear CALLeagues, First, a heartfelt thank you to everyone who took the time to fill in our conference survey. Your feedback is invaluable as we plan future conferences. As promised, we held two draws for those who completed the survey, and I am delighted to announce the winners: congratulations to Emma Scott, who wins the Moncton Delta gift certificate, and to Betty Dykstra, who wins $100 off next year's conference! I am pleased to share that Our Executive Director (OED) has now officially taken over sole management of CALL/ACBD's account. We are still very much in a period of integration, and I ask for your continued patience as the OED team learns our needs and ways of working. As they review how we do things, OED has also been offering helpful suggestions for process improvements and identifying opportunities to tidy up and strengthen our existing practices. We are grateful for their fresh perspective and attention to detail, and we look forward to building an even stronger foundation together. I am also proud to announce CALL/ACBD's first sponsored webinar , hosted by Soutron. This new partnership offering is part of our new partnership prospectus for non-conference opportunities, which is designed to connect our vendors with our members throughout the year. Please see the details below, and I hope many of you will join us. Looking ahead, our Members Open Forum will be held on November 4 at 12 ET. A formal notice with registration link will go out on Monday. This is your opportunity to share with the board issues that concern you, and to ask questions of the Board. Soon after, the Board and OED will meet in Winnipeg for our annual special Board meeting, where we will take a deeper dive into CALL/ACBD's priorities and how to ensure the long-term strength of our association. Thank you all for your continued support and engagement. Katarina Daniels Chères et chers collègues, Tout d'abord, un immense merci à toutes celles et ceux qui ont pris le temps de remplir notre sondage sur le congrès. Vos commentaires sont précieux pour la planification de nos prochains congrès. Comme promis, nous avons procédé à deux tirages parmi les personnes ayant répondu au sondage, et j'ai le plaisir d'annoncer les gagnantes : félicitations à Emma Scott, qui remporte la carte-cadeau du Delta Moncton, et à Betty Dykstra, qui remporte un rabais de 100 $ sur l'inscription au congrès de l'an prochain ! . Je suis heureuse de vous annoncer que Votre Directeur général (VDG) assume désormais officiellement, et à lui seul, la gestion du compte de la CALL/ACBD. Nous sommes toujours en pleine période d'intégration, et je vous remercie de continuer à faire preuve de patience pendant que l'équipe de VDG se familiarise avec nos besoins et nos façons de faire. En examinant nos pratiques, VDG nous propose aussi des améliorations utiles à nos processus et repère des occasions de clarifier et de renforcer nos pratiques actuelles. Nous apprécions grandement ce regard neuf et ce souci du détail, et nous avons h'te de b'tir ensemble des bases encore plus solides. Je suis également particulièrement fière d'annoncer le tout premier webinaire commandité de la CALL/ACBD , animé par Soutron. Cette nouvelle offre de partenariat fait partie de notre nouveau prospectus de partenariat pour les occasions hors congrès, qui vise à mettre nos fournisseurs en relation avec nos membres tout au long de l'année. Vous trouverez tous les détails ci-dessous, et j'espère que vous serez nombreuses et nombreux à y participer. Pour la suite, notre Forum virtuel pour les membres se tiendra le 4 novembre à 12h (HE). Un avis officiel comprenant le lien d’inscription sera envoyé lundi. Ce forum sera"},{"source":"Canadian Association of Law Libraries / L'Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit CALL/ACBD Blog","id":3241544,"description":"Le texte français suit. CALLeagues, With the release of the program for the annual conference , I hope to see many of you in Moncton. This varied and engaging program is the tangible result of the vision and leadership of our Conference Planning Committee Co-Chairs Michèle Leblanc and Laura Corscadden, with guidance from our Second Vice-President Pia Williams, along with the hard work of the volunteers on the subcommittees, and the many speakers who will be sharing their expertise - how fortunate we all are that these currents will converge in a month’s time in the “Hub City”. Leading up to our flagship event, the first part of our annual general meeting will be held on Monday, May 11, 2:00PM-2:30PM ET. While the formal notice will soon be sent to your inboxes, I could not wait to let you all know now, as this is the forum in which our many committees and Special Interest Groups report on and celebrate their activities and achievements from the past year. As we prepare for our most important events of the year, our website will, of course, continue to be updated. As you make your way through the website and happen to find an error that needs to be corrected or an update that needs to be made, you can now submit it using the new website update request form . This form provides you and our National Officer Laura Romero with a clearer, more consistent and systematized way to make timely updates to our organization’s online home. All the best, ~Jason Wong Bonjour à tous les membres de la CALL/ACBD ! Le programme de notre congrès annuel étant désormais disponible, j’espère vous voir en grand nombre à Moncton. Le programme varié et captivant témoigne de la vision et du leadership de nos coprésidentes du comité de planification du congrès, Michèle Leblanc et Laura Corscadden, qui ont bénéficié des conseils de notre deuxième vice-présidente, Pia Williams, sans oublier les efforts déployés par les bénévoles des sous-comités et la multitude de conférencier.ère.s qui partageront leur expertise. Nous avons bien de la chance que ces courants convergent dans un mois dans la « ville-carrefour » ! Avant notre événement phare, la première partie de notre assemblée générale annuelle se tiendra le lundi 11 mai, de 14 h à 14 h 30 (heure de l’Est). Vous recevrez bientôt la convocation officielle par courriel, mais j’avais h'te de vous en informer puisqu’il s’agit d’un forum au cours duquel nos nombreux comités et groupes d’intérêt spécial   présenteront un compte rendu de leurs activités et célèbreront leurs réalisations de la dernière année. Alors que nous préparons nos événements majeurs de l’année, la mise à jour de notre site Web se poursuivra. Vous pouvez désormais signaler toute erreur à corriger ou modification à apporter lorsque vous naviguez sur le site en utilisant le nouveau formulaire de demande de mise à jour du site Web . Ce formulaire vous permet, ainsi qu’à notre responsable nationale Laura Romero, d’effectuer des mises à jour rapides, claires, cohérentes et systématiques de notre site Web. Amicalement, ~Jason","pubDate":"Mon, 26 Oct 2026 07:55:57 +0100","titre":"President's Message / Message du président","url":"https://www.callacbd.ca/CALL-Blog/13622192"},{"source":"Canadian Association of Law Libraries / L'Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit CALL/ACBD Blog","id":3241485,"description":"You can read incoming CALL President Yemisi Dina's first From the President's Desk column on our website. It was published in the June 2023 issue of In Session , the bulletin for CALL members. In her message, she emphasizes the importance of the work by CALL committees and special interest groups: \"During the initial years after I joined CALL/ACBD in 2006, I recall joining a few committees and SIGs after being invited by some more experienced colleagues. I found this experience very fulfilling, and it exposed me to different levels of professional development. Some of the committees and SIGs need volunteers . I encourage you to identify something that interests you and where you would be willing to make an impact.\" \"Thank you to all those who have put their names forward and to all who continue to assist.\" Sur note site web, vous pouvez trouver le tout premier Mot de la présidente de la nouvelle présidente de l'ACBD , Yemisi Dina. Il a été publié dans le numéro de juin 2023 du bulletin mensuel aux membres de l'Association. Dans son message, elle souligne l'importance du travail des comités et des groupes d'intérêt spécial de l'association: \"Dans les premières années suivant mon adhésion à l’ACBD/CALL en 2006, je me souviens m’être jointe à quelques comités et groupes d’intérêt spécial (GIS) sur invitation de collègues chevronnées. J’ai trouvé cette expérience fort enrichissante et cela m’a permis de découvrir différents niveaux de perfectionnement professionnel. Certains de nos comités et GIS ont besoin de bénévoles . Je vous invite donc à trouver un volet qui vous intéresse et dans lequel vous pourriez exercer une influence.\" \"Merci à toutes les personnes qui ont proposé leur candidature ainsi qu’à tous les bénévoles qui continuent de prêter","pubDate":"Mon, 26 Oct 2026 07:55:50 +0100","titre":"Message from Incoming President Yemisi Dina / Message de la nouvelle présidente Yemisi Dina","url":"https://www.callacbd.ca/CALL-Blog/13215693"},{"titre":"Nancy McCormack Emerging Leader Award","url":"https://www.callacbd.ca/CALL-Blog/12631145","pubDate":"Mon, 26 Oct 2026 07:55:48 +0100","description":"Dolores Noga, Manager, Library Services and Knowledge Management at McLennan Ross in Edmonton, is the Chair of the CALL/ACBD Scholarships & Awards Committee. She would like CALL members to consider applying for the new Nancy McCormack Emerging Leader Award which honours the memory of a fellow CALL member who was the Head Law Librarian at Queen's University in Kingston.  Nancy died in 2019. The award goes to an association member in good standing who is normally in the first ten years of their law library career and who has demonstrated the qualities embodied by Nancy. The application deadline is April 1, 2022. Here is what Dolores asked the blog to share: The Canadian Association of Law Libraries recently unveiled criteria for the new Nancy McCormack Emerging Leader Award. This is a memorial award, intended to recognize and honour our former colleague, who dedicated considerable time to mentoring and encouraging others in the profession. Nancy McCormack was an active member of the Association and a committed contributor to the Canadian Law Library Review, preparing book reviews, writing articles, and served as editor and associate editor. She co-wrote The Practical Guide to Canadian Legal Research published in 2010 and revised in 2015, Updating Statutes and Regulations for All Canadian Jurisdictions published in 2012, Introduction to the Law & Legal System of Canada published in 2013, and The Annotated Federal Interpretation Act published in 2016. Nancy most recently edited the fifth edition of The Dictionary of Canadian Law published in 2020, a task described as ‘Herculean’. She taught Advanced Legal Research and Writing, Torts, and Legal Research and Writing. A search on HeinOnline provides reference to 52 articles written by Nancy. Nancy held a B.A., M.A., M.L.I.S., J.D., and LL.M. An issue of the Canadian Law Library Review, compiled after Nancy’s passing, provides the following comments from those who worked closely with her and knew her well: “incredibly generous in sharing her experience, knowledge, time”; “cared deeply about the people she taught and mentored”; “kind”; “encouraging”; and “supportive”, as examples. Nancy was the recipient of the Dennis Marshall Memorial Award for Excellence in Law Librarianship in 2014 and the Michael Silverstein Prize in","id":3241463,"source":"Canadian Association of Law Libraries / L'Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit CALL/ACBD Blog"},{"url":"https://books.openedition.org/africae/8186","titre":"Reinventing Uganda","pubDate":"Fri, 23 Oct 2026 14:04:40 +0200","source":"OpenEdition Books dernières parutions","description":"In April 1979, as Idi Amin’s government crumbled in the face of the Tanzanian military advance, a moment of opportunity opened. After years of dictatorship and terrifying violence, Ugandans had the opportunity to start again. This book attempts to do justice to the multiple ways in which they imagined their future at the time, before the tragic end to these turbulent months—Milton Obote’s fraudulent election and the start of the civil war. For the first time in many years, men and—to a lesser extent—women were able to ask critical questions about what it might mean to be Ugandan, how state and society should be organised, about who should hold authority—and in the name of what. This was a time of fear and economic deprivation, in an international context largely defined by the Cold War and the emergence of neoliberalism. But it was also a time of hope, and of the flourishing of political imagination that would nurture the public debate for many years to","id":3237168},{"url":"https://www.slaw.ca/2026/10/20/you-get-out-what-you-put-in-all-is-fair-in-love-and-mediation/","titre":"You Get Out What You Put In: All Is Fair in Love and Mediation","pubDate":"Wed, 21 Oct 2026 08:00:51 +0200","description":"A longstanding sore spot in the world of dispute resolution is the gap between education and experience. For decades now, I have encountered mediation students eager to put their learning to work only to struggle to find the opportunity to do so. For those pursuing the ADR Institute of Canada’s Qualified Mediator (Q.Med) designation in Ontario, this real-life experience criterion is often the most elusive. After all, who would select a mediator with no experience? I touched upon this question slightly in this column years ago when I questioned the value of mediators promoting their mediation counts . For aspiring . . . [more] The post You Get Out What You Put In: All Is Fair in Love and Mediation appeared first on Slaw","id":3230806,"source":"Slaw"},{"url":"https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2018/09/root-root-root-regions","titre":"Root, root root for the regions","pubDate":"Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:05:07 +0200","description":"Root, root root for the regions lfair September 24, 2018 | 2:03PM Root, root root for the regions By Andrew Smith, Director, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection T his year eight major league baseball teams are celebrating milestone anniversaries – and so are the FTC’s regional offices. In 1918, the Commission opened the first three of its regional offices. Today, eight regional offices continue to knock it out the park on behalf of America’s consumers. So it’s only fitting that on this momentous day we acknowledge the regional offices’ century of pennant-winning performances. According to the Commission’s 1918 Annual Report, “In order to expedite the greatly increased work of the Commission . . . small branch offices were established in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.” Over time, the FTC has added other locations for a current total of eight offices in seven regions. Regional staff work with the Bureau of Consumer Protection and the Bureau of Competition on investigations and litigation. But they are in a unique position to host roundtables and workshops in their communities; to coordinate with local, state, and cross-border law enforcers; and to build partnerships with consumer groups and small business organizations within their region. According to the scouting report, there isn’t a pitch they can’t hit. Here’s a brief look at each region’s box score with a focus on just a few of their many MVP contributions to the FTC’s consumer protection mission. East Central Region . In 1918, the Cleveland Indians finished just out of pennant contention, but the FTC’s Cleveland-based office works hard to bring home the W for consumers and small businesses. For example, ECR has brought a number of cases over the past two decades to protect small businesses in their area and around the country, including cramming, business directory, and unordered merchandise scams. Recently, ECR played a central role in Operation Main Street, the FTC’s recent initiative against scammers targeting small businesses. Midwest Region . Chicago fans may be divided in their loyalty to the Cubs and the White Sox, but consumers who lost money to scammers who used the services of a major money transfer company are united in their appreciation for the FTC-DOJ settlement that returned $586 million back to them. And just recently, MWR hosted the Commission’s workshop on cryptocurrency scams and took a lead role in Operation Tech Trap, a coordinated state, federal, and international effort to shut down tech support fraudsters. Northeast Region . Given New York’s connection to names like Huggins, Houk, Stengel, Berra, and Torre, it’s no wonder the FTC’s Northeast Region has particular expertise in coaching. But in NER’s case, it’s about companies that make deceptive “coaching” and money-making representations. The New York-based office also has been one of the FTC’s power hitters in addressing misleading practices in the affiliate marketing industry. And from their Big Apple location, NER has been a leader in educating consumers, particularly older Americans and small businesses. Northwest Region . Like their hometown Seattle Mariners, the FTC’s Northwest Region has a proven record of navigating the complexities on the field of play. NWR coordinated Operation Donate with Honor, a nationwide crackdown on fraudulent charities alleged to have conned consumers by falsely promising their contributions will help veterans and servicemembers. In addition, our team in Seattle regularly coordinates with Canadian counterparts to combat cross-border fraud. And they’ve been ahead of the curve on tech issues, bringing one of the FTC’s first internet cases in the 90s and more recently, an early online influencer action. Southeast Region . The Atlanta Braves boast a national fan base – and due to their expertise in fighting fraud, the FTC’s Southeast Region can be proud of its coast-to-coast impact,","id":3201877,"source":"FTC USA Business Blog Posts"},{"source":"FTC USA Business Blog Posts","id":3200009,"description":"The FTC's Google settlement: What's the buzz? wfg-adm109 April 1, 2011 | 4:28PM The FTC's Google settlement: What's the buzz? By Lesley Fair “Sweet!  Check out Buzz.” “Nah, go to my inbox.” That was the intriguing choice facing Gmail users last year when Google launched Google Buzz, its social network. But according to a settlement announced this week by the FTC, the company violated the privacy promises it made to Gmail users and used deceptive tactics in the Buzz rollout. The story starts with Google’s privacy policy. From October 2004 until October 2010, Gmail users were told, \"Gmail stores, processes and maintains your messages, contact lists and other data related to your account in order to provide service to you.\"  On the subject of the choices users had about the use of their personal information in all of Google’s products, including Gmail, the privacy policy said, \"When you sign up for a particular service that requires registration, we ask you to provide personal information. If we use this information in a manner different than the purpose for which it was collected, then we will ask for your consent prior to such use.\"  According to the FTC, statements like that conveyed that Google would use information from people signing up for Gmail only for the purpose of providing them with email service and that Google would ask for their consent before using their info for any other purpose. So far, so good. But then came the roll-out of Google Buzz. The service allows users to share updates, comments, pictures, videos, and the like through “buzzes” made either publicly or privately to individuals or groups of users. When Buzz was launched, Gmail users were taken to a welcome screen that announced the new service and presented the “Sweet!” or “Nah” choice. If users clicked “Nah,” the FTC complaint alleges that their info was nonetheless shared in a number of ways. First, the user could still be “followed” by Gmail users who enrolled in Buzz. Second, if the Gmail user had previously created a Google profile, he or she could appear on the public Google profiles of Buzz enrollees who were following them. Third, a link to Buzz would show up on the list of links on the user’s Gmail page. If the user clicked on that link, he or she would be taken to the Buzz welcome screen and would be automatically enrolled in Buzz without any disclosure of that fact. In other words, users would be enrolled in certain features of Buzz even if they didn’t sign up. So much for “Nah.” The FTC’s complaint alleges that despite what it said in its privacy policy, Google didn’t use information from people signing up for Gmail just for the purpose of providing email service. Rather, the company used it to populate Buzz. Thus, said the FTC, the representations in Google’s privacy policy were false or misleading. Furthermore, the agency alleged that despite the promise in its privacy policy that Google would ask for consumers’ consent before using their information for another purpose, Google went ahead and used it to populate its social network without getting their permission. The FTC charged that was false or misleading and constituted a deceptive practice. The next part of the story:   The not-so-sweet results when users clicked the “Sweet!”","pubDate":"Tue, 06 Oct 2026 14:06:39 +0200","url":"https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2011/04/ftcs-google-settlement-whats-buzz","titre":"The FTC's Google settlement: What's the buzz?"},{"source":"FTC USA Business Blog Posts","id":3199077,"description":"FTC recaps consumer complaint data for 2017: Who’s on the list? lfair March 1, 2018 | 5:17PM FTC recaps consumer complaint data for 2017: Who’s on the list? By Lesley Fair Once bitten, twice shy. That fundamental principle of human behavior is why reputable businesses that work hard to earn consumers’ confidence should support the FTC’s ongoing efforts to fight fraud. According to the FTC’s 2017 Consumer Sentinel Data Book , consumers reported losing a total of $905 million to fraud last year. That’s close to a billion bucks people won’t be able to spend on legitimate products and services from credible companies. That figure is up $63 million from last year, although the total number of reports received from consumers is down from 2.98 million in 2016 to 2.68 million in 2017. Topping the list that no industry wants to be on is debt collection, making up 23% of the total number of complaints. But there are two caveats: 1) that number is down from 2016; and 2) the high number of debt collection reports was due in part to reports submitted by a data contributor who collects complaints via a mobile app. Second on the list is identity theft at 14%. The injury to consumers came in two equally unpalatable flavors. Credit card fraud was the most common manifestation. Tax fraud was next, but the glimmer of hope there is that the total number of tax-related identity theft complaints fell by 46%. Winners of the dubious bronze medal were imposter scams , with consumers reporting financial losses of a whopping $328 million. Imposters wear many masks: “I’m with [big-name tech company] and your computer is riddled with viruses,” “Help, Grampa! I’ve been arrested and need bail money,” and “We’re from [government agency] and we’ll arrest you if you don’t pay us today.” Nearly one in five consumers who reported an imposter scam said they lost money to the fraud. For the first time, the Consumer Sentinel Data Book breaks out fraud losses by reported age groups and here’s a result that may surprise you: Consumers in their 20s reported losing money to fraud more often than those over 70. Among 20-somethings who reported fraud, 40% said they lost money. Compare that with the over-70 crowd, only 18% of whom reported a financial loss. But there’s a troubling aspect to that surprising factoid. When older adults did report losing money to a scammer, the loss was much greater. For example, people 80 and older reported median losses of $1,092 compared to $400 for those in their 20s. Wire transfers continue to be scammers’ preferred payment method and in 70% of the complaints we received, the fraudster contacted the consumer by phone. The top states for reporting fraud were Florida, Georgia and Nevada, while Michigan, Florida and California had the most reports about identity theft, per capita. Stats cats tell us that they find our state-by-state data dive helpful, so we’ve created a new webpage to make it easier to evaluate the information. The bottom line for business people: Educate.   Use your status in the community to spread the word to employees, industry colleagues, and friends about the latest forms of fraud. One way to stay in the know: Sign up for scam alerts from the FTC. Cooperate.  If people you know suspect that their identity has been compromised, send them to identitytheft.gov to create a personal recovery plan. (And remember that your company may have a legal obligation to provide identity theft victims and law enforcers with transaction records related to ID theft.) Report.   When you spot a scam, report it to the FTC . We’re talking about fraud directed to consumers and questionable promotions targeting small businesses. Your reports have helped the FTC and other law enforcement agencies put together cases against the con artists behind bogus business directories, office supply flimflams, and other forms of B2B fraud. Consumer Sentinel is an online database available to civil","pubDate":"Tue, 06 Oct 2026 08:06:24 +0200","url":"https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2018/03/ftc-recaps-consumer-complaint-data-2017-whos-list","titre":"FTC recaps consumer complaint data for 2017: Who’s on the list?"},{"source":"FTC USA Business Blog Posts","id":3199075,"description":"First Consumer Review Fairness case takes on promoter’s “big bucks on Amazon” claim lfair August 6, 2018 | 11:11AM First Consumer Review Fairness case takes on promoter’s “big bucks on Amazon” claim By Lesley Fair T he marketers behind a purported money-making promotion called Sellers Playbook appear to have skipped the chapter about complying with federal and state consumer protection laws. That’s the allegation in a complaint filed by the FTC and the Minnesota Attorney General . In addition, it’s the FTC’s first case charg ing violations of the Consumer Review Fairness Act. The roots of the allegations go back to another venture sued by the FTC earlier this year: FBA Stores, also known as Amazing Wealth System and Amazon Wealth Systems. The defendants in that case ran online ads and in-person workshops that claimed to reveal the secret s of making major money on Amazon. But few, if any, of the consumers who forked over thousands of dollars and implemented their “plug-and-play systems” earn ed the kind of cash the defendants claimed. Which brings us to Sellers Playbook, Exposure Marketing, Jessie Conners Tieva, and Matthew Tieva – Minnesota-based defendants charged with pitching the same kind of “secrets” to making big bucks on Amazon . According to the just-filed lawsuit , the striking similarities should come as no surprise. That ’s because defendant Jessie Tieva was a regular speaker at Amazing Wealth Systems’ workshops. How successful was she in getting consumers to sign up? The complaint charges that Ms. Tieva and her team generated more than $3.4 million in sales for Amazing Wealth Systems. And let’s be clear: We’re not talking about $3.4 million in sales by consumers who successfully implemented the system. We mean $3.4 million that consumers shelled out to the operators of Amazing Wealth Systems for which Tieva was paid a handsome commission. The complaint alleges that the new Sellers Playbook venture is, in effect, a copycat of the now-defunct Amazing Wealth Systems operation. The earning claims certainly have a familiar ring to them. Here’s how Sellers Playbook touted their “opportunity”: “Holy cow, guys. That’s when you start seeing the returns of what we want you to have, $20,000 a month,” “Potential Net Profit: $1,287,463.38,” “Starting with $1000...1 year later over $210,000,” and “How many of you would like to learn how to turn a $5- to $10,000 investment into a $25- to a $1.2 million return with your investment? Yeah. And you’re going to learn those strategies before you leave here today. There are a few other things Amazon Wealth Systems and Sellers Playbook have in common: 1) Neither company has any affiliation with Amazon; and 2) Both companies charged consumers hundreds of dollars – or even hefty five-figure fees – to sign up. Of course, few consumers make the kind of earnings the defendants claimed. According to the complaint, many of the webpages promoting Sellers Playbook contained an inconspicuous earnings disclaimer in grey near the bottom of the page. What’s more, at a live event, the defendants briefly displayed this slide, which one of the presenters downplayed with this statement: “That’s why they have us do this again. It makes the lawyers happy, disclaimers. But you got to do your part. Money’s not going to fall from the sky. But as long as you do a part, it’s going to happen.” T he complaint challenges the defendants’ earning claims as false or unsubstantiated under FTC law and the Minnesota Prevention of Consumer Fraud Act. What’s more, the lawsuit alleges multiple violations of the FTC’s Business Opportunity Rule . The FTC and the AG also charge that provisions in the defendants’ form contracts try to restrict consumers’ ability to post reviews of their products, services, or conduct , in violation of the Consumer Review Fairness","pubDate":"Tue, 06 Oct 2026 08:06:23 +0200","titre":"First Consumer Review Fairness case takes on promoter’s “big bucks on Amazon” claim","url":"https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2018/08/first-consumer-review-fairness-case-takes-promoters-big-bucks-amazon-claim"},{"url":"https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2020/02/ftc-challenges-online-trading-academys-money-making-claims","titre":"FTC challenges Online Trading Academy’s money-making claims","pubDate":"Mon, 05 Oct 2026 08:07:09 +0200","description":"FTC challenges Online Trading Academy’s money-making claims lfair February 12, 2020 | 4:35PM FTC challenges Online Trading Academy’s money-making claims By Lesley Fair Ads for health products often target Boomer Consumers, but those aren’t the only claims pitched to people looking toward retirement. An FTC action alleges a company called Online Trading Academy has taken in more than $370 million by gearing its deceptive representations to that demographic. In addition, the complaint alleges violations of the Consumer Review Fairness Act. According to the FTC, the California-based operation, related companies, and three individual defendants advertise a “patented strategy” that consumers can apply “to any asset class including stocks, options, futures and currencies” to rake in big money. They claim their “training programs” – with price tags as high as $50,000 – will teach consumers how to “invest like the pros on Wall Street.” ”No matter your experience and goals,” people were told the defendants’ “proven” strategy was “designed to make money in any market, whether it’s going up or down.” The complaint recounts the process the defendants use to attract consumers through TV and radio ads, online promotions, and direct mail. First comes an in-person “preview” seminar. Next, people pay $299 for a three-day “orientation.” That’s where the defendants urge attendees to sign up for seminars costing thousands more. The defendants assign each attendee an “Education Counselor” – a/k/a salesperson working on commission – who follows up by phone or email. According to the complaint, the defendants train their Education Counselors not to “look like, act like or sound like, a traditional salesperson,” but instead to take on a “role” and lead consumers through “The Pain Funnel,” Q&A designed to overcome consumer qualms. To get people to sign up for more seminars, the defendants routinely offer to finance all or part of the cost with loans at 18%, with the promise to forgive the interest if the consumer pays the total off within six months. The FTC says that in some instances, the defendants lead buyers to believe they’ll be able to repay the loan quickly with money they’ll make using that “patented strategy.” So how much does Online Trading Academy say consumers will earn? A central theme of their pitch is “You don’t have to work on Wall Street to make money like Wall Street.” Infomercials feature purchasers claiming that “in three hours I made $12,000” or “I made $32,000 in less than seven trading days.” In a YouTube video, a retiree says he made “$40,000 in a single trade.” In addition, a speaker at a live event claimed consumers “could potentially make $50,000 of annual income with an account size as low as $5,000” because Online Trading Academy has “a patent on the fact that you can time the markets,” which “gives us the ability to know when to get in and when to get out, long-term and short-term.” Other speakers – including some of the named defendants – paint a picture of lavish lifestyles filled with international travel, a “super luxury car” every year, and homes in areas where kids have “live-in nannies, cooks, gardeners.” One speaker said the money he made using Online Trading Academy’s strategy allows him to live in an enclave so exclusive that a neighbor, a renowned Olympic gold medalist, taught his daughter to swim. But the facts paint a different picture. The FTC alleges the defendants don’t systematically collect data sufficient to substantiate their earnings claims. But even the evidence they do have gave them good reason to know their representations are deceptive. For starters, according to the FTC, the defendants know that few consumers who","id":3197414,"source":"FTC USA Business Blog Posts"},{"source":"FTC USA Business Blog Posts","id":3195787,"description":"Speaking of Spokeo: Part 2 — The company’s allegedly bogus endorsements wfg-adm109 June 13, 2012 | 12:25PM Speaking of Spokeo: Part 2 — The company’s allegedly bogus endorsements By Lesley Fair The lawsuit against data broker Spokeo is the FTC’s first Fair Credit Reporting Act case addressing the collection of online info — including data from social networking sites — when used in the context of employment screening.  But that’s not the only way the Spokeo settlement touches on social media.  The FTC also charged that Spokeo violated Section 5 by having employees post glowing recommendations of the company’s services on news and technology websites without disclosing their true identity. Perhaps just the work of a rogue cubicle occupant?  No, said the FTC.  According to the complaint , Spokeo directed its employees to write the comments.  Spokeo managers then edited what they wrote and had the staffers post the endorsements using account names provided by Spokeo.  The purpose, says the FTC, was to give readers the misleading impression that the laudatory words had been posted by independent consumers or business users of Spokeo. The FTC’s revisions to its Endorsement Guides made headlines a few years ago.  Ironically enough, the provision that seemed to attract the most attention is one that didn’t change.  It’s the law — and it’s always been the law under Section 5 — that consumers have a right to know when there’s a material connection between an advertiser and an endorser.  Here’s how the Guides put it:  \"When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement ( i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience), such connection must be fully disclosed.\" According to the FTC, by posting comments that conveyed the untruthful impression that they came from satisfied users of Spokeo’s services, Spokeo engaged in false and misleading practices.  To settle the endorsement count in the lawsuit, Spokeo has agreed that it won’t misrepresent, expressly or by implication, the status of any user of a product or service — for example, that someone is an independent, ordinary endorser if that’s not the case.  The company also will clearly and prominently disclose any material connection between an endorser and Spokeo (or any other entity advertising, selling, or promoting a product) when a connection exists.  What about the bogus endorsements already posted?  Spokeo has seven days to take all reasonable steps to pull them down. Looking for more about complying with the Endorsement Guides?  Read The FTC’s Revised Endorsement Guides: What People are Asking and watch this video: While you’re at it, share this post and those resources with your marketing staff, your ad agency, your PR firm, and anyone else who plays a role in your publicity and promotions. Next:  What the Spokeo settlement means for your business, your next ad campaign, and your job search","pubDate":"Sat, 03 Oct 2026 14:06:13 +0200","titre":"Speaking of Spokeo: Part 2 — The company’s allegedly bogus endorsements","url":"https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2012/06/speaking-spokeo-part-2-companys-allegedly-bogus-endorsements"},{"url":"https://www.dailyintakeblog.com/2026/10/governor-newsom-signs-bill-for-non-upf-certification-program/","titre":"Governor Newsom Signs Bill for Non-UPF Certification Program","pubDate":"Fri, 02 Oct 2026 08:01:24 +0200","source":"The Daily Intake","description":"Governor Newsom has signed California's AB 2244 , which creates the country's first voluntary non-ultraprocessed food certification program. By June 1, 2029, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) must develop a system to accredit independent certification agents that can certify food products as “Non-Ultraprocessed Certified.” The “Non-Ultraprocessed Certified” seal (proposed previously to be “California Certified”) may only be used for foods that do not qualify as an ultraprocessed food (UPF), UPF of concern, or a restricted food, as defined by California's UPF standards introduced in 2025. The program will allow certified products to display the seal on their packaging and will require manufacturers to recertify their products every three years. CDPH must create and maintain a public database of these certified products. Under the law, retailers with more than 25 individual non-UPF-certified product types and who generate more than $10 million in sales annually will be required to prominently display products with the seal. Earlier versions of the bill included tighter mandates for how these products are displayed and promoted, but these were removed from the final version. Governor Newsom signed AB 2244 along with other legislation that promote a “holistic healthcare strategy,” including AB 2030 (prohibiting the sale of over-the-counter diet pills or dietary supplements for weight loss or muscle building to persons under 18) and SB 869 (requiring disclosures on restaurant menus for high added sugar content). Keller and Heckman will continue to monitor and report on developments in food-related","id":3192489},{"url":"https://www.berec.europa.eu/en/news/latest-news/michel-van-bellinghen-elected-berec-chair-2028","titre":"Michel Van Bellinghen elected BEREC Chair 2028","pubDate":"Thu, 01 Oct 2026 14:34:59 +0200","description":"Michel Van Bellinghen elected BEREC Chair 2028 yannick.stephan Thu, 01/10/2026 - 08:59 Latest News At its plenary meeting on 1 October 2026, the Board of Regulators elected Michel Van Bellinghen , Chair of the BIPT Council (Belgium), as the BEREC Chair for 2028. In the year preceding the chairmanship, he will join the Mini-Board and work closely with the incoming Chair, Alejandra de Iturriaga Gandini ( CNMC , Spain), helping to ensure a smooth handover of responsibilities and continuity in BEREC’s work. This will be the second time Michel Van Bellinghen serves as BEREC Chair. BEREC leadership in 2027 BEREC’s leadership is centred on the Chair, supported by the Vice-Chairs. The Mini-Board, composed of the Chair, the Vice-Chairs and participants without voting rights, provides support for the Chair in carrying out their leadership responsibilities. During the plenary meeting, the Board of Regulators also elected the Vice-Chairs for 2027. Klaus Steinmaurer ( RTR , Austria) and Karol Krzywicki ( UKE , Poland) will support the Chair in preparing and coordinating BEREC’s work, including plenary discussions, strategic planning and stakeholder engagement. Armer Juka ( AKEP , Albania) was elected as the representative of participants without voting rights to the Mini-Board for 2027. In addition, the incoming and outgoing BEREC Chairs – Michel Van Bellinghen and Marko Mismas ( AKOS , Slovenia) – will also serve as Vice-Chairs. The Vice-Chairs have two main functions. First, the incoming Chair – or, if necessary, one of the Vice-Chairs – may take over the role of Chair when the Chair is not in a position to perform their duties. Second, each Vice-Chair supports and follows the work of a specific cluster of BEREC Working Groups. The BEREC Chair decides the allocation of these clusters. In the year preceding the chairmanship, the incoming Chair is also responsible for preparing the annual work programme. What the BEREC Chair does The BEREC Chair plays a central role in guiding BEREC’s work during the chairmanship year. The Chair leads plenary meetings, represents BEREC externally, helps build consensus among national regulatory authorities and oversees the implementation of the annual work programme. The Vice-Chairs support the Chair in carrying out these responsibilities and help ensure continuity between the annual chairmanships. Together, the Chair and Vice-Chairs contribute to the effective functioning of BEREC and to the achievement of its objectives. The BEREC Chair is responsible for BEREC’s external relations and for representing its interests. The Chair informs members about external activities, reports on their outcomes and shares any relevant materials. When invited, the Chair also reports on the performance of BEREC’s tasks to the European Parliament and the European Commission. In addition, the BEREC Chair serves as Chair of the Mini-Board, convenes its meetings and informs the Board of Regulators about its activities. Appointment process The BEREC Chair is elected every year. To be nominated and elected as Chair, a candidate must be supported by at least four BEREC members, not including the candidate themself, and must have served for at least one year as Vice-Chair. Election requires the support of at least two-thirds of the Board of Regulators who vote in order to be elected. The Chair’s term of office is one year. Similarly, every year, the Board of Regulators elects at least two Vice-Chairs from among its members for the following year.","id":3191419,"source":"BEREC Office"},{"source":"Federal Trade Commission - Protecting America's Consumers","description":"The Federal Trade Commission announced today that is considering whether to update its Rule on Impersonation of Government and Businesses or take other action to prevent online platforms from engaging in ad-optimization practices that may be furthering impersonation scams. In an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to be published in the Federal Register , the FTC is seeking comment on the extent to which ad-optimization tools and services offered by social media, search engines and other digital marketplace platforms further efforts by scammers to impersonate legitimate businesses and government agencies using online ads.  “Free markets depend on trust, transparency and consumers’ ability to make informed choices. Impersonation scams—especially when amplified by digital platforms that profit from them—do more than rob Americans of their hard-earned money,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “They erode the very foundation that allows competitive markets to function. Today’s impersonation scams are no longer the work of isolated con artists; they are sophisticated, highly engineered operations powered by the same advertising and targeting tools that platforms sell to legitimate businesses. Consumers reported nearly $3.5 billion in losses to impersonation fraud last year, and the true cost is likely far higher. “The Commission’s mission has always been to safeguard the conditions under which competitive markets can thrive. Increasingly, consumers rely on a small number of dominant digital platforms for everyday transactions—from shopping, banking and travel bookings to accessing government services. Yet these platforms are the very places fraudsters seek out consumers, exploiting their trust while platforms profit from optimizing and disseminating scam ads. “Today’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking asks whether the Commission should require platforms to take concrete steps to prevent impersonation ads from ever reaching consumers. By exploring potential new obligations platforms would have to follow, the rulemaking aims to ensure that Americans participate in an online economy where truthful information guides consumer choice.”  Impersonation scams have topped the list of fraud complaints reported to the FTC by consumers in recent years. In 2025, the FTC received more than 1 million reports about imposter scams from consumers, who reported losing nearly $3.5 billion to such scams. In addition, online platforms play an important role in many scams. For example, nearly 30% of consumers who reported losing money to scammers in 2025 said they were first contacted on social media platforms, with reported losses reaching $2.1 billion. The ANPRM notes that impersonation scams have been amplified by search engines, social media and other digital marketplace platforms that profit from optimizing online ads for third parties, regardless of whether the third parties are legitimate. The ANPRM seeks comment on a wide range of topics related to the use of these ad-optimization tools and services and the proliferation of ads that impersonate businesses and government agencies including:  The financial incentives driving these platforms to offer ad-optimization tools and services, details on how each tool and service optimizes the content and delivery of the ad, and the steps platforms currently take to prevent the use of such tools and services for deceptive advertising The extent to which these platform ad-optimization tools and services constitute unfair or deceptive acts or practices by furthering impersonation scams Whether these unfair or deceptive acts or practices are prevalent in the marketplace and whether the Commission should address these acts or practices by amending the existing Impersonation Rule, proposing a new separate rule or implementing non-regulatory Measures Measures the Commission could consider in crafting any new regulations, including vetting","id":3176041,"url":"https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/09/ftc-seeks-public-comment-whether-update-rule-impersonation-government-businesses-address-platforms","titre":"FTC Seeks Public Comment on Whether to Update Rule on Impersonation of Government and Businesses to Address Platforms’ Role in Promoting Impersonation Scams","pubDate":"Fri, 25 Sep 2026 08:10:48 +0200"},{"titre":"FTC, States Sue Amazon Over Secret Ad Surcharge Scheme","url":"https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/08/ftc-states-sue-amazon-over-secret-ad-surcharge-scheme","pubDate":"Tue, 01 Sep 2026 08:10:10 +0200","description":"Today, 22 states joined the Federal Trade Commission in filing suit against Amazon, alleging that the company engaged in deceptive and unfair practices that secretly inflated prices in its online search advertising auctions. The complaint   alleges that, for over seven years, Amazon has covertly and substantially increased the prices that more than one million brands and sellers were required to pay to advertise on its platform. As a result, the complaint alleges that Amazon’s scheme has likely extracted tens of billions of dollars from its unwitting advertising customers. “When one of the world’s largest online retailers engages in unfair and deceptive conduct, the impact can be staggering,” said Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson. “Amazon has millions of advertising customers who were misled into paying significantly higher prices. These higher costs were largely passed on to American consumers. The FTC under President Trump won’t allow this deception to continue.” The FTC, along with the attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Washington, allege Amazon has imposed undisclosed surcharges on its advertising customers, which include over 500,000 small- and medium-sized businesses that participated in auctions for advertising placements on Amazon.com and its mobile app. In these auctions, prospective advertisers bid to place Sponsored Product ads, Sponsored Brands ads and Display Ads alongside the results that appear when a consumer searches for a product using a keyword on Amazon’s store. Placements are auctioned to the highest-ranked bidder for each keyword. As described in the complaint, Amazon has represented to prospective advertisers for years that Amazon runs “second price” auctions where the winner of the auction would only pay “one cent more than the next highest bidder” for each successful bid for an advertising keyword. However, in practice, the complaint alleges that Amazon has charged its Sponsored Products advertisers their own winning bid close to 80% of the time and has effectively converted its nominally “second price” auction into a first price auction. According to the complaint, Amazon’s “second price” auctions have been described by Amazon, and understood by advertisers, to be run as generalized second-price, or GSP auctions, which have been the accepted industry standard for digital advertising placements. The complaint states that Amazon has made these or similar representations on its website, in training videos and in other public-facing materials, as well as in presentations made to advertisers by its hundreds of sales personnel.  The type of auction matters to advertisers because it impacts how they bid. In a sealed first-price auction—the type of auction where winners pay the amount of their winning bid—bidders run the risk that they might overbid. So, in repetitive auctions for the same goods, they will often reduce their bid to determine what the minimum amount needed to win future auctions might be. This is called bid shading. In second-price auctions, bidders are more likely to bid higher, closer to their true value for the product, because they will only be liable to pay the least bid amount needed to win under the auction’s rules.  As alleged in the complaint, Amazon told advertisers it ran a GSP, but for years its auction pricing had “a surcharge hidden in it,” in the words of one internal Amazon document. The complaint alleges that, beginning in 2019, Amazon changed its auction rules without notice by adding an undisclosed surcharge that Amazon referred to internally as a “soft reserve price.” This resulted in advertisers paying substantially more than the price determined by the GSP auction.  According to the complaint, Amazon","id":3127461,"source":"Federal Trade Commission - Protecting America's Consumers"},{"titre":"FTC Announces 2027 Telemarketer Fees to Access the National Do Not Call Registry","url":"https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/08/ftc-announces-2027-telemarketer-fees-access-national-do-not-call-registry","pubDate":"Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:03:44 +0200","source":"Federal Trade Commission - Protecting America's Consumers","description":"The Federal Trade Commission today announced new fees for telemarketers to access phone numbers on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry for Fiscal Year 2027 which begins on October 1, 2026. All telemarketers calling consumers in the United States are required to download the numbers on the National DNC Registry to ensure they do not call consumers who have registered their phone numbers. The first five area codes are free to download, and organizations that are exempt, such as some charities and political callers, may obtain the entire list for free. Telemarketers must subscribe each year for access to the Registry numbers. The cost of accessing a single area code in the registry will be $85 in FY 2027, which is an increase of $3 from FY 2026. The maximum charge to any single entity for accessing all area codes nationwide will be $23,425 (up from $22,626 in FY 2026). The fee for accessing an additional area code for a half year will increase to $43 in FY 2027 from $41 in FY 2026. The Commission vote authorizing publication of the Federal Register notice announcing the new fees was 2-0. Note:  The new fees will go into effect on October 1,","id":3118417},{"titre":"“Refs, You Suck!”: Personal Attacks on Decision Makers","url":"https://www.slaw.ca/2026/06/30/refs-you-suck-personal-attacks-on-decision-makers/","pubDate":"Wed, 01 Jul 2026 08:03:36 +0200","description":"I watch a lot of hockey – but mostly on television. This year I attended a playoff game of the PWHL’s Ottawa Charge at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. It was an exciting game, but for me there was one concerning moment, when I heard thousands of people chanting, “Refs, you suck!”, after a call on the ice against the home team. As a hockey fan, I too did not like some of their calls, or non-calls, but there is a critical difference between attacking a decision and attacking the person who made the decision. Before the game started, . . . [more] The post “Refs, You Suck!”: Personal Attacks on Decision Makers appeared first on Slaw","id":2997475,"source":"Slaw"},{"titre":"FTC Data Show People Reported Losing $3.5 Billion to Imposter Scams in 2025","url":"https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/06/ftc-data-show-people-reported-losing-3-point-5-billion-imposter-scams-2025","pubDate":"Tue, 16 Jun 2026 08:09:40 +0200","source":"Federal Trade Commission - Protecting America's Consumers","description":"New data from the Federal Trade Commission reveal that people reported losing a staggering $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, with reported losses increasing nearly three times since 2020. FTC data also show that people reported imposter scams more than any other fraud category in 2025—nearly one in three fraud reports were about imposter scams. These scams lured consumers through text, phone, email, social media, search engine results and other means. Some of the costliest impersonation scams start with a fake security alert, often from a bank. People are convinced to move money to “protect” it, with their losses often limited only by their available funds. Last year, people reported losing nearly $1 billion to business impersonators with the highest reported losses to bank impersonators—and about $920 million to government impersonators, up from $866 million and $789 million respectively in 2024. The FTC has seen a striking increase in reported fraud losses to all types of fraud—about $16 billion was reported lost in 2025, the highest on record and an increase of about 25% compared to the 2024 figure. “Consumers derive enormous benefits from competitive markets built on truthful information. But fraud undermines that foundation, impeding the market process and preventing markets from operating efficiently,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC will use every tool available to combat one of the most pernicious forms of fraud—government and business impersonation—and to protect the integrity of the digital economy.” The data underscore the importance of the FTC’s work with the  Elder Justice Coordinating Council (EJCC) , which is working to help raise awareness of imposter scams and other scams impacting older adults as well as other consumers. This year, the FTC, along with the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services and members of the EJCC, is leading the Never Ever campaign, a public-private coordinated consumer education effort to raise awareness of government and business imposter scams. In addition to the federal agency members of the EJCC , the campaign also includes private sector representatives such as the American Bankers Association, USTelecom, Google and Microsoft. To help the public spot imposter scams, EJCC members launched the Never Ever campaign, which is aimed at promoting messaging on the key actions that government and businesses will Never Ever take. The Never Ever campaign will run from June 15 to June 26, in conjunction with World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. This first-of-its-kind public-private partnership includes participants from a wide range of organizations and is aimed at directing consumers to a website that includes information and resources to help them avoid imposter scams and what to do if they spot one. Enforcement Actions To help combat impersonation scams, the FTC in 2024 finalized the Impersonation Rule. The Rule gives the agency stronger tools to combat and deter scammers who impersonate government agencies and businesses, enabling the FTC to file federal court cases seeking to get money back to injured consumers and civil penalties against rule violators. Since then, the FTC has vigorously enforced the rule and brought a dozen enforcement actions that have resulted in halting imposter schemes and obtained over $70 million in redress for consumers. In 2025, the FTC brought law enforcement actions under the Impersonation Rule against:  American Tax Service (IRS imposter scheme);  MediaAlpha (government imposter scheme to sell health insurance);  Click Profit (business imposter money making scam);  Blackstone Legal (phantom debt business imposter scheme) and  Accelerated Debt Settlement (government and business imposter scheme that targeted older adults for debt relief). More recently, the  FTC filed a complaint against Innovative Partners in April 2026 , alleging the operators","id":2959787},{"source":"Arcom Textes juridiques","description":"The French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication, Having regard to the French intellectual property code , in particular article L. 331-12 ; Having regard to the French Sports Code , in particular article L.333-10 ; After due deliberation, Adopts the following notice: The year 2025 marked a turning point in the fight against sports broadcasting piracy, with increased involvement of various types of intermediaries, under the impetus of sports rights holders, as part of the dynamic injunctions issued under article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code . In addition to the legal actions involving Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which have been fully integrated into the scheme since 2022, and in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the blocking measures implemented, rights holders have extended their legal actions, from 2023, to search engine operators, who play a key role as central players in the diffusion of information on the internet and in directing users to sports-related contdnt. Search engine operators are now almost systematically involved in actions taken by rights holders to protect sports competitions. Between 2024 and 2025, the number of delisting measures ordered by the courts and the number of measures notified by Arcom in application of the orders issued has dubbed. In response to the misuse by some Internet users of domain name resolution services or virtual private networks (VPNs), rights holders then extended the scope of players taken to court to prevent access to services dedicated to the unlawful broadcasting of sports competitions. More than 5,000 blocking demands were notified to alternative DNS in 2025. As for virtual private network service providers, they were the subject of the first court verdicts, handed down on the basis of article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code , in May 2025, and as such are receiving a growing number of blocking demands to update the measures ordered by the judge. Against this backdrop, strengthening cooperation between rights holders of sports-related content and the various intermediaries mentioned in the court orders would therefore appear to be desirable in order to give an even greater impact to the fight agains sports piracy. The parties are also invited to continue their exchanges with Arcom with a view to optimizing the provision of identification data and ensuring the simultaneous application of delisting and blocking measures by all technical intermediaries involved in preventing access to unlawful services. Article L. 331-12 of the French intellectual property code makes provision for the adoption of notices by the Authority for the protection and promotion of creation, with the aim of encouraging the signing of voluntary agreements likely to help remedy infringements of copyright and neighbor rights, or of the audiovisual exploitation rights mentioned in article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code, on electronic communications networks used for the provision of online public communication services. In addition, under the terms of IV of article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code, Arcom is responsible for adopting model agreements which the rights holders mentioned in I of the same article are invited to sign. The agreement concluded between the parties specifies, in particular, the measures that the parties undertake to take to put an end to any infringement of the exclusive audiovisual exploitation rights of the sports event or competition. The Autorité recommends that the rights holders mentioned in I of article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code, on the one hand, and any intermediaries implementing measures ordered on the basis of II of article L. 333-10 of the same code, on the other (notably search engine operators, domain name resolution services and virtual private network providers), enter into discussions with a view to concluding agreements that would reflect their joint commitment to fight agains the unlawful diffusion of sports-related events and competitions as effectively as possible. To this end, Arcom is","id":2900811,"url":"https://www.arcom.fr/en/find-out-more/legal-area/legal-resources/arcoms-notice-may-6-2026-accompanying-publication-model-agreements-provided-article-l333-10-french-sports-code","titre":"Arcom's notice of May 6, 2026 accompanying the publication of model agreements provided for in article L333-10 of the French Sports Code.","pubDate":"Fri, 22 May 2026 14:08:22 +0200"},{"source":"ANJ","id":2847428,"description":"UEFA European Football Championship and sports betting: the French Gambling Authority (ANJ) gathers operators and announces a dynamic and structuring action plan admin lun 13/09/2021 - 16:45 On 20 July 2021, the French Gambling Authority (ANJ) gathered sports betting’s operators in order to make the overview of the European Football Championship that has been scarred by some abuses. Resulting from a constructive exchange, these operators have agreed on the necessity to proceed at a rebalancing of their practices in order to preserve the recreational model of the French gambling market. As such, the ANJ introduced an action plan that seeks to reinforce operators’ compliance, to adapt and complete existing tools and, where required, to use sanctioning procedures. English Questionable practices highlighted during the European Football Championship UEFA European Football Championship 2021 confirmed the growing place of sports bets in France with EUR 434 million of online stakes. The French team matches have aroused a strong popularity by totalling EUR 88 million of online bets, which means an average of EUR 22 million per match. This competition has underlined the existence of questionable practices around sports betting, such as the media hype, the targeting of young people or the excessive stimulation of the game. For the first time, the public debate has seized this very subject and has relayed serious concerns coming from various circles. According to a Harris Interactive inquiry* conducted for the ANJ during the European Football Championship, more than half of those who had seen sports betting ads feel that they are too many of them and close to eight out of ten French people who had seen these ads consider that they can contain a risk of addiction. *Inquiry conducted by Harris Interactive online from the 6 to the 8 July 2021 for the ANJ with a cross section of 1038 French population aged over 18 years old. The ANJ has brought gambling operators together in order to learn from the European Football Championship After having drew the attention of operators on several critical points since June, the ANJ has gathered them on the 20 July in order to do the review of the European Football Championship and to address them the following messages: A yellow line has been crossed in terms of advertising pressure during this competition, which leads to question the model of regulation in place for the past 10 years; it is important to drastically and immediately reduce the sports betting’s advertising pressure. The commercial communications targeting young adults and keeping the illusion of easy money are particularly problematic. As a result of these discussions, which took place in a constructive atmosphere, gambling operators have decided that they collectively share the concerns expressed by the regulator and are prepared to work alongside it in order to propose some improvements and to limit these commercial communications. The ANJ establish an action plan for games offer to remain recreational and well-balanced Given the shared objective of recovery practices between regulator and operators, the ANJ has announced the launch of 5 projects to fight the observed abuses and to clarify or complete the legal framework. These projects should be over by the end of the year.   Regarding advertisement: The ANJ","pubDate":"Sat, 25 Apr 2026 08:02:05 +0200","titre":"UEFA European Football Championship and sports betting: the French Gambling Authority (ANJ) gathers operators and announces a dynamic and structuring action plan","url":"https://anj.fr/uefa-european-football-championship-and-sports-betting-french-gambling-authority-anj"},{"source":"EDPB News","description":"Brussels, 28 November - The EDPB launched a call for expression of interest to establish a new reserve list for the Support Pool of Experts (SPE) programme . The objective is set up a reserve list of legal and technical experts. The legal expertise sought includes a wide range of fields, such as data protection, policy monitoring, technology, cybersecurity, competition, healthcare, online intermediary services and content moderation . As for the technical expertise , the relevant areas include IT auditing, website security, mobile OS and apps, Internet of Things, cloud-computing, behavioural advertising, anonymisation techniques, cryptology, artificial intelligence, User experience (UX) design, fintech , data science, social science (incl. economics, sociology, psychology), and development of applications and software . Bring your expertise to the table Don’t miss this opportunity to participate in this EDPB’s key strategic initiative. Your work will help Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) across Europe increase their capacity to supervise and enforce data protection rules and strengthen the protection of individuals’ fundamental rights. In 2022, the EDPB issued a call for expression of interest, which led to the establishment of a first SPE reserve list. As this list is set to expire in February 2026, the EDPB is inviting experts who were included in this first SPE reserve list to submit their application in response to the new call for expression of interest. The call will be open until August 2030. Learn how to submit your application . Apply now Background The SPE was developed as part of the EDPB Strategy 2021-2023 to help DPAs increase their enforcement capacity by developing common tools and giving them access to a wide pool of experts.   The EDPB aims to carry out approximately ten projects per year with pre-eminent external experts in a given field.  Projects are coordinated either by individual DPAs or by the EDPB. More information on the SPE and on completed project is available here . ","id":2548823,"url":"https://www.edpb.europa.eu/news/news/2025/support-edpbs-work-expert_en","titre":"Support the EDPB’s work as an expert","pubDate":"Wed, 03 Dec 2025 15:56:01 +0100"},{"titre":"UEFA European Football Championship and sports betting: the French Gambling Authority (ANJ) gathers operators and announces a dynamic and structuring action plan","url":"http://anj.fr/uefa-european-football-championship-and-sports-betting-french-gambling-authority-anj","pubDate":"Sun, 28 May 2023 19:23:47 +0200","description":"UEFA European Football Championship and sports betting: the French Gambling Authority (ANJ) gathers operators and announces a dynamic and structuring action plan admin lun 13/09/2021 - 16:45 On 20 July 2021, the French Gambling Authority (ANJ) gathered sports betting’s operators in order to make the overview of the European Football Championship that has been scarred by some abuses. Resulting from a constructive exchange, these operators have agreed on the necessity to proceed at a rebalancing of their practices in order to preserve the recreational model of the French gambling market. As such, the ANJ introduced an action plan that seeks to reinforce operators’ compliance, to adapt and complete existing tools and, where required, to use sanctioning procedures. English Questionable practices highlighted during the European Football Championship UEFA European Football Championship 2021 confirmed the growing place of sports bets in France with EUR 434 million of online stakes. The French team matches have aroused a strong popularity by totalling EUR 88 million of online bets, which means an average of EUR 22 million per match. This competition has underlined the existence of questionable practices around sports betting, such as the media hype, the targeting of young people or the excessive stimulation of the game. For the first time, the public debate has seized this very subject and has relayed serious concerns coming from various circles. According to a Harris Interactive inquiry* conducted for the ANJ during the European Football Championship, more than half of those who had seen sports betting ads feel that they are too many of them and close to eight out of ten French people who had seen these ads consider that they can contain a risk of addiction. *Inquiry conducted by Harris Interactive online from the 6 to the 8 July 2021 for the ANJ with a cross section of 1038 French population aged over 18 years old. The ANJ has brought gambling operators together in order to learn from the European Football Championship After having drew the attention of operators on several critical points since June, the ANJ has gathered them on the 20 July in order to do the review of the European Football Championship and to address them the following messages: A yellow line has been crossed in terms of advertising pressure during this competition, which leads to question the model of regulation in place for the past 10 years; it is important to drastically and immediately reduce the sports betting’s advertising pressure. The commercial communications targeting young adults and keeping the illusion of easy money are particularly problematic. As a result of these discussions, which took place in a constructive atmosphere, gambling operators have decided that they collectively share the concerns expressed by the regulator and are prepared to work alongside it in order to propose some improvements and to limit these commercial communications. The ANJ establish an action plan for games offer to remain recreational and well-balanced Given the shared objective of recovery practices between regulator and operators, the ANJ has announced the launch of 5 projects to fight the observed abuses and to clarify or complete the legal framework. These projects should be over by the end of the year. Regarding advertisement: The ANJ has asked operators for a mid-term review of implementation of their promotional strategies as approved by the ANJ’s Board in January 2021 and reserves the right, after examination of these reviews, to initiate sanctions procedures in the event of noncompliance. The ANJ will launch a consultation of stakeholders on advertising in September. This will allow the ANJ to address recommendations to these stakeholders, and if necessary, to propose new tools of intervention. A partnership is initiated with the ARPP (Self-Regulatory Body of Advertising Professionals) in order to decline regulatory restrictions into concrete recommendations for operators. The objective is to issue precise and operational","id":719780,"source":"ANJ"}]