: By: Susannah Tredwell , Manager of Library Services at DLA Piper (Canada) LLP and James Bachmann , Instructional Librarian, Law Library, University of British Columbia Since 1988, when CALL/ACBD’s Copyright Committee was first set up, CALL/ACBD has advocated for its members' interests in the area of copyright. While the primary focus of CALL/ACBD’s copyright advocacy over the last few years has been on Crown copyright and primary law, CALL/ACBD has also made submissions about such areas as fair dealing and licencing. CALL/ACBD sees this work as not only supporting the needs of its members but also as serving the interests of access to justice as a whole. Continuing this work, on January 18, 2022 CALL/ACBD, along with Library Futures Institute, will act as an intervener in the Supreme Court of Canada case Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, et al. v. Entertainment Software Association, et al. Kim Nayyer, CALL/ACBD’s President, and Robert Janes of JFK Law will be representing CALL[...]
: The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against Illusory Systems Inc. for failing to implement adequate data security measures, leading to a major security breach in which hackers stole $186 million from consumers. Under a proposed order settling the FTC’s allegations, Utah-based Illusory, which does business as Nomad, will be required to implement an information security program to address numerous alleged security failures and to return recovered money to affected consumers. “The FTC Act requires companies to take reasonable security measures,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “It’s important that companies live up to their security promises to consumers.” In its complaint , the FTC alleged that Nomad prominently touted its security in its advertising, claiming that it offered “security-first” services. The FTC, however, alleged that the company failed to live up to these promises by failing to: use secure coding practices; implement processes for recei[...]
: Le texte français suit. Dear CALLeagues, I hope this finds you well and enjoying the first stretch of summer. Our formal post-conference survey has now been released, and I encourage every member to take a few minutes to complete it. If you joined us in Moncton, please tell us what worked, what did not, and what you would like to see from future CALL/ACBD conferences. If you were not able to attend, we want to hear from you as well. This survey is about more than feedback on one event. It will help us understand who is coming to our conferences, why they attend, what they value, and what barriers may be keeping others away. We also want to know what might make attendance easier or more compelling in future years. Your answers will help us improve next year’s conference in Saskatoon and plan more thoughtfully for the years ahead. On that note, I am very excited to share some big news: CALL/ACBD will be heading to Toronto in 2028 to celebrate the Association’s 65th anniversary! Sixty-five years is a remarkable[...]
: The Federal Trade Commission issued a policy statement today announcing that the Commission willnot bring an enforcement action under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA Rule) against certain website and online service operators that collect, use, and disclose personal information for the sole purpose of determining a user’s age via age verification technologies. The COPPA Rule requires operators of commercial websites or online services directed to children under 13, and operators with actual knowledge they are collecting personal information from a child, to provide notice of their information practices to parents and to obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting, using, or disclosing personal information collected from a child under 13. Age verification technologies play a critical role in helping parents as they monitor their children’s online activities. Since COPPA was enacted in 1998, there’s been an explosion in the use of internet-connected technologies by children. To he[...]
: 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 read[...]
: Amazon will pay $2.25 million in civil penalties to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the online retail giant knowingly violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by refusing to provide transaction records to consumers whose personal information was used by identity thieves to commit fraud. The complaint , filed by the Department of Justice upon notification and referral from the FTC, alleged that in numerous instances, Amazon.com Inc. failed to comply with Section 609(e) of the FCRA, which requires companies to, within 30 days of a consumer’s request, provide victims of identity theft with application and business transaction records about fraudulent transactions made in their names. According to the complaint, Amazon had no written policy to respond to Section 609(e) requests until early 2025, after it learned of the FTC’s investigation, despite prior outreach from FTC staff advising the company to review its compliance with Section 609(e). “Amazon often put identity theft victims through[...]
: Practice Fusion case suggests 6 health privacy pointers lfair June 8, 2016 | 9:01AM Practice Fusion case suggests 6 health privacy pointers By Lesley Fair Combine two of the most talked-about consumer protection topics – health privacy and consumer-generated online content – and what do you get? A proposed FTC settlement with Practice Fusion, the largest cloud-based electronic health records company in the country, and six compliance tips for others in the industry. One of San Francisco-based Practice Fusion’s primary products is an electronic records system for outpatient providers. In 2009, the company launched “Patient Fusion,” an online portal where patients whose providers were already using Practice Fusion could view or download their health information or transmit it to another provider. Patient Fusion also let patients send and receive secure messages from their providers. Fast forward several years and the company decided to expand Patient Fusion to include a public directory where current and prosp[...]
: Fighting Coronavirus scams: Taking stock chundycz May 8, 2020 | 9:01AM Fighting Coronavirus scams: Taking stock By Andrew Smith, Director, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the FTC has released dozens of warning letters against people trying to make an illegal buck off the Coronavirus. More than a month in, it seems like a good time to look back at what’s happened. If you follow this blog, you’ll know these have been busy weeks – with advice about spotting the many scams we’re all facing, news of the warning letters sent on a wide range of scams, and some enforcement actions filed. You might wonder: Why send letters? Why not just sue the !*$@&#? Fair question. But the letters are working. And, given the scope of the scams out there right now, we want to get the best and fastest results we can with the most efficient tool we have. Right now, for these Coronavirus-related issues, that’s warning letters. In general, here’s how it goes: We spot someone advertising some[...]
: A Ninth Circuit panel has partially revived (Law360 subscription required) a lawsuit alleging that FDA and USDA nutrient content claim regulations violate First Amendment rights by preventing the inclusion of certain information about fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and poloyols (FODMAPs) on food labels. The lawsuit was initially filed against FDA, USDA, and USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) in March 2023 after one plaintiff submitted a label to FSIS for approval. FSIS denied the approval, telling the company that it must “remove all references to digestible, gut loving, and fodmap.” According to the plaintiff, FDA had never raised concerns about the claims on labels of FDA-regulated foods. According to the Ninth Circuit, FSIS told the company that it discussed the proposed label with FDA, and FDA agreed that the FODMAP claims were impermissible nutrient content claims. The company modified the label, then filed the lawsuit along with a consumer plaintiff. The plainti[...]
: Alexander Mashinsky, the former CEO of cryptocurrency platform Celsius Network Inc. (Celsius), and his business partners, Shlomi Daniel Leon and Hanoch “Nuke” Goldstein, will pay a total of $16.5 million to resolve the Federal Trade Commission’s charges that they deceived users by falsely promising that deposits made to their cryptocurrency platform would be safe and always available. Mashinsky and Leon have also agreed to a ban on marketing or selling products or services that can be used to deposit, exchange, invest or withdraw assets. Similarly, Goldstein has agreed to a ban on marketing or selling retail products or services that can be used to buy, sell, deposit, withdraw, distribute or trade cryptocurrency. In its July 2023 complaint , the FTC alleged that Celsius and its co-founders promised consumers that Celsius was “safer” than a bank or other traditional financial institutions and misrepresented that their deposits were safe because Celsius earned profits at “no risk” to consumers by making secur[...]
: Joint letters take new steps to stop illegal Coronavirus robocalls lfair April 3, 2020 | 1:57PM Joint letters take new steps to stop illegal Coronavirus robocalls By Lesley Fair Consumers hate illegal robocalls. And as the thousands of reports pouring into the FTC indicate, they also hate robocalls that exploit concerns about Coronavirus. In recent months, the FTC has taken innovative steps to take on not only illegal robocallers, but also companies that “assist and facilitate” their conduct. Just last week, FTC staff sent warning letters to nine businesses that provide Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services or other assistance to some of the entities that may be behind the onslaught of bogus COVID-19 calls. Additional letters just went out that reflect unprecedented actions in the fight against fraud. Warning letters were sent to three VoIP providers: SIPJoin, Connexum, and VoIP Terminator d/b/a BLMarketing. According to the letters, investigations have revealed that these companies transmitted calls [...]
: Brussels, 18 February - The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has adopted a report on its Coordinated Enforcement Framework (CEF) action on the right to be forgotten (Art.17 GDPR) . The Board selected this topic as it is one of the most frequently exercised GDPR rights and one about which DPAs frequently receive complaints from individuals. The main objectives of this coordinated action are to ensure that the right to erasure is effectively exercised by individuals in Europe and understand how controllers comply with this right in practice. In addition, the EDPB identified good practices and the most important related challenges, with the aim of providing further guidance on this topic. Throughout 2025, 32 DPAs across Europe took part in this initiative. More specifically, 9 DPAs have initiated new formal investigations or have continued ongoing ones, and 23 DPAs carried out a fact-finding exercise. A total of 764 controllers across Europe responded to the action, ranging from small and medium-sized[...]