Free Republic

The government wants you to know that simply sporting a pair of Skechers' fitness shoes is not going to get you Kim Kardashian's curves or Brooke Burke's toned tush.

Individuals and member organizations of the American media were threatened with FTC and FCC investigation if information gathered by Sheriff Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse concerning the forgery of Barack Obama’s long form birth certificate were passed on to the American public. It was Posse lead investigator Mike Zullo who made this stunning revelation, stating “During our investigation, we actually were told [that media] had been threatened with FTC investigations. Commentators [had been] threatened with their jobs.” And Jerome Corsi, author of “Where’s the birth certificate,” the book whose imminent publication was responsible for forcing Barack Obama to quickly create and...

SAN FRANCISCO - Government regulators are sharing some alarming information about Facebook: They believe the online social network has often misled its more than 800 million users about the sanctity of their personal information. The unflattering portrait of Facebook's privacy practices emerged Tuesday in a Federal Trade Commission complaint alleging that Facebook exposed details about users' lives without getting legally required consent. In some cases, the FTC charged, Facebook allowed potentially sensitive details to be passed along to advertisers and software developers prowling for customers. To avoid further legal wrangling, Facebook agreed to submit to government audits of its privacy...

In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives by Steven Levy Simon and Schuster, 424 pp., $26.00 I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 by Douglas Edwards Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 416 pp., $27.00 The Googlization of Everything (and Why We Should Worry) by Siva Vaidhyanathan University of California Press, 265 pp., $26.95 Search & Destroy: Why You Can’t Trust Google Inc. by Scott Cleland with Ira Brodsky Telescope, 329 pp., $28.95 Tweets Alain de Botton, philosopher, author, and now online aphorist: The logical conclusion of our relationship to computers: expectantly to type “what is...

Well that didn’t take long. Yesterday, in a post discussing a New York Times op-ed that called for heavy taxation on “unhealthy” foods, I asked, “How long before some starry-eyed but angry-faced Democrat proposes legislation to force ‘healthy food’ advertising?” Now The Daily Caller reports that food producers could face government regulations requiring “healthy” composition profiles for foods marketed to children two to seventeen years old.If enacted, new regulatory criteria will reclassify many foods which the FDA presently considers healthy as off limits for advertising to children. In the present formulations, eighty-eight of the top 100 most-consumed foods will be...

The announcement of a Federal Trade Commission investigation into the Google’s trade practices and an ongoing Congressional investigation has some in Washington predicting the end of the Internet, as we know it. But before writing the Internet’s obituary, it is critical to take a step back and examine what is really going on.

The Federal Trade Commission has approved a controversial firm which scours social media sites to check on job applicants. It means anything you've ever said in public on sites including Facebook, Twitter and even Craigslist could be seen by your would-be employer. The Washington-based commission has ruled the firm, Social Intelligence Corporation, complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act - even though it keeps the results of its searches on file for seven years.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc is about to receive the civil equivalent of a subpoena from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as part of a probe into the giant Web company's Internet search business, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company, which dominates U.S. and global markets for search advertising, has been accused by competitors of favoring its own services over rivals in its search results. Google, the world's No. 1 search engine, and the FTC declined to comment on the Journal report. The FTC plans to send the civil investigative...

Tony the Tiger, some NASCAR drivers and cookie-selling Girl Scouts will be out of a job unless grocery manufacturers agree to reinvent a vast array of their products to satisfy the Obama administration’s food police. Either retool the recipes to contain certain levels of sugar, sodium and fats, or no more advertising and marketing to tots and teenagers, say several federal regulatory agencies. The same goes for restaurants. It’s not just the usual suspected foods that are being targeted, such a thin mint cookies sold by scouts or M&Ms and Snickers, which sponsor cars in the Sprint Cup, but pretty...

In a world where potential employers will almost certainly toss your name into a search engine before considering you for a job, we should all be very careful about what we put online. However, sometimes we slip up, leaving a nasty smear on an otherwise pristine social networking persona. Now, thanks to a ruling by the FTC, background checking services can store those unfortunate moments for up to 7 years after you've deleted them from the web. A company called Social Intelligence — which provides background checks for companies during the hiring process — recently drew ire from would-be employees...

New York Sen. Charles Schumer wants the government to investigate U.S. oil refiners' skyrocketing profits, which he said are to blame for high gas prices. "Something is rotten," said the Democrat, speaking today at a gas station on Manhattan's West Side. He said refiners' profits have more than doubled since last year. Meanwhile, the price of unleaded gas went up by almost 12 percent in just the two weeks ending May 6, topping $4 a gallon in New York. The senator said he believes refiners may be fixing prices by cutting back on stockpiles — by keeping refining capacities to...

There’s an old saying that when all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail. The government version is this: When all you have is the ability to regulate, the solution to every problem is more regulation: Citing an epidemic of childhood obesity, regulators are taking aim at a range of tactics used to market foods high in sugar, fat or salt to children, including the use of cartoon characters like Toucan Sam, the brightly colored Froot Loops pitchman, who appears in television commercials and online games as well as on cereal boxes. The story goes on to...

House Speaker Pelosi and other prominent Democrats today asked the FTC to investigate record high gas and oil prices, in the latest sign of partisan wrangling ahead of the summer driving season. Democrats want the commission to initiate immediately a rule implementing language in the energy bill signed into law in December that gives the agency authority to investigate and levy penalties against companies suspected of manipulating oil supply and prices. “Congress provided this authority to the FTC four months ago — but to date, the FTC has failed to exercise its power to protect consumers from skyrocketing energy costs,”...

Coming to a gas pump near you. Even if you can't drink and drive, your car can. A Virginia company is taking in truckloads of boozy caffeinated drinks, including Four Loko, and recycling the stuff into pure ethanol to be blended into gasoline. A crackdown on the beverages is leading wholesalers to send the drinks from their warehouses to waste management companies for handling. "We’re at full capacity," Brian Potter, a VP for MXI Environmental Services, told the Associated Press. "There are about 30 different products involved, and we’ve only seen a couple of them at this point. It could...

Yesterday, the White House blog asked “as special interest billionaires continued to pour secret donations of millions of dollars each into front groups supporting Republicans, we asked the obvious question: “What do they expect in return?“” They added, “Congressional Republicans have made clear that lobbyists have a seat at the table even when they are formulating their party’s broader strategy and governing vision.” People in glass White Houses shouldn’t throw stones. * “Google’s Marissa Mayer is hosting President Obama for a Democratic party fundraiser tonight. Tickets are $30,000-a-head….” – San Francisco Chronicle, October 21, 2010 * “After analyzing the unencrypted...

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The Federal Trade Commission is once again handing out subpoenas to companies that market food to children and teens. Three years after initially delivering what is technically known as "orders to file special report" to 44 marketers, the FTC last week began sending subpoenas to 48 companies in order to prepare a follow-up to its 120-page report issued in 2008, "Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities and Self-Regulation." "This is a follow-up to measure the effects that self-regulation has had over the last three years," said Carol Jennings, spokeswoman for...

In May, the FTC launched a trial balloon calling for the "reinvention of journalism." Whether it's a "journalism AmeriCorps" or a Ministry of Truth, it's a bad idea. On May 24, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (not to be confused with the Federal Communications Commission, which is also trying to help in a crisis not to be wasted) released a document titled “Potential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention of Journalism.” It must, in the minds of some folks, be time for our masters to push the reset button. The FCC document notes that “this draft does not represent conclusions...

Agency head complained of 'free ride' for online news readers Federal Trade Commission (FTC) leaders are attempting to distance themselves from controversial proposals published in a May 24 working paper on "reinventing" the media. The report presents a suite of options through which government could step in and supposedly rescue journalism, most notably by imposing taxes. A fee could be levied on websites such as the Drudge Report that link to the best news of the day, or a tax could be imposed on consumer electronics such as iPads, laptops and Kindles. Funds collected would be redistributed to traditional media...

The FTC has issued a discussion report on rescuing the failing newspaper industry, labeled as "The Reinvention of Journalism," Fox News reports. An NYU journalism source speaks for critics of the FTC draft: The problem with this is that the FTC is trying to set an agenda here, that some sort of government intervention is necessary. It's a power grab by the FTC and it's also an example of one old power structure circling its wagons around another.

Journalism can reinvent itself without government 'help' The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking ways to "reinvent" journalism, and that's a cause for concern. According to a May 28 draft proposal, the agency thinks government should be at the center of a media overhaul. The bureaucracy sees it as a problem that the Internet has introduced a wealth of information options to consumers, forcing media companies to adapt and experiment to meet changing market needs. FTC's policy staff fears this new reality. "There are reasons for concern that experimentation may not produce a robust and sustainable business model for commercial...

A list of potential policy recommendations to reinvent the field of journalism that has been compiled by the Federal Trade Commission is a "dangerous" overreach of power and a waste of taxpayer funds, critics of the project told FoxNews.com. FTC officials began a project in May 2009 to consider the challenges the journalism industry faces in the digital age. The federal agency recently released a discussion draft titled "Potential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention of Journalism," a 47-page document that outlines a major government push to rescue the country's flailing media platforms -- specifically newspapers, which have seen advertising...

The FTC wants to save the old dinosaur media. ... To pay for it all they want to tax all sorts of things like broadband, advertising and consumer electronics. Oh, and they would also make it illegal for people like me to go around distributing facts to people like you. ... Reaganite Republican had it right when he said our “First Amendment rights are coming under pressure from the Bolshevik Boy Wonder yet again.” Interesting that the government is trying to save the old media while the old media is hiring up all of the left wing bloggers.

The nation needs a strong, independent press, the FTC argues, and so they want to find ways for government to "reinvent" journalism. If that sounds vaguely Orwellian to you, the actual language in the Federal Trade Commission’s discussion-points memo should have hairs standing on the backs of necks across the nation. It shows a wildly laughable rationale for government intervention that would prop up the failing newspaper model in a manner that would put the entire industry at the mercy of the federal bureaucracy it’s supposed to keep in check. The paper notes "experimentation" of media outlets on the Internet,...

The Marxist in the White House has already taken big steps toward nationalizing the banking, insurance, automobile, and healthcare industries. Federal foot-dragging over protecting the coast from the Gulf oil spill could be motivated by a desire to have as many oil-coated pelicans as possible on the evening news as a prelude to nationalization of the energy sector. What else would be at the top of a communist's list of takeovers if not the very media that installed him in power? Mark Tapscott reports on the Federal Trade Commission's working paper on "reinventing journalism," an initiative intended to transform the...

Release of the Federal Trade Commission's working paper on "reinventing journalism" makes it clear that there is no more time for diplomacy about this issue: President Obama is determined to federalize the news industry just as he has banking, autos, and health care. Everybody who wants independent journalism had better wake up to these three facts about what is going: * Journalists must understand that there is no way the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of the press will survive if the federal government regulates the news industry as envisioned by the FTC. Those who accept at face value protests...

'Rogue' internet firm 3FN shut down An internet firm linked to many of the internet's criminal gangs has been shut down. The US Federal Trade Commission said Belize-based 3FN aided gangs that ran botnets, carried out phishing attacks and traded in images of child abuse. The servers and net hardware of 3FN have been seized and are due to be sold off as the firm is dismantled. The operators of 3FN must also pay back $1.08m (£750,000 ) they are reputed to have made by hosting criminal sites. Servers seized The FTC began its legal action against 3FN in...

(CBS)  A CBS News investigation last month found that nearly every digital copier built after 2002 stores an image of documents copied, scanned or emailed by the machine on hard drives. CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports parents and students at Dos Palos High School in Sacramento found out the hard way recently, when CBS affiliate KOVR pulled hundreds of student names, home addresses, cell phone and social security numbers off the hard drive of an old school copier. "The fact that information that we treat very, very carefully somehow got out of our system and is out...

A wave of criticism that started two weeks ago reached a crescendo this morning when Washington-based advocacy group Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, charging General Motors with deceptive advertising. -snip- In an April 29 letter to Mr. Whitacre, Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wrote that "your statements and the slick marketing campaign built around them constitute a lie to the American people, who have spent over $50 billion to bail out GM and currently own over 60% of the company. We...

That's the question Ed Morrissey asks at Hot Air. Commenting on an under-publicized portion of the House version of financial reg legislation that would, in the Wash Post's summary, "allow the FTC to issue rules on a fast track and permit the agency to impose civil penalties on companies that hurt consumers," Morrissey raises a series of disturbing queries: Neither the FTC nor the Internet had anything to do with the Wall Street meltdown in 2008. If this financial-regulation bill is so desperately needed, why did House Democrats lard it up with this power grab at the FTC? Why does...

Mike Adams Natural News April 30, 2010 Of all the sneaky tactics practiced in Washington D.C., this recent action by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is one of the most insidious: While no one was looking, he injected amendment language into the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173) that would expand the powers of the FTC (not the FDA, but the FTC) to terrorize nutritional supplement companies by greatly expanding the power of the FTC to make its own laws that target dietary supplement companies. Congressman Henry Waxman wants to give the FTC even more powers...

Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against Sean Hannity, his Freedom Concerts, the Freedom Alliance and Lt. Col. Oliver North. Copies of the complaints were also sent to the attorney generals of the states in which concerts are scheduled to be held this summer. CREW’s FTC complaint alleges Hannity and Freedom Concerts have engaged in illegal and deceptive marketing practices by suggesting that all money generated by ticket sales for the Freedom Concerts he sponsors each summer goes to scholarships for children of...

CEO known for putting Social Security number in ads * FTC says ads were deceptive, overstated protections * CEO says new ads better clarify LifeLock services LifeLock Inc, which promises to protect consumers from identity theft, agreed to pay $12 million to settle claims by the Federal Trade Commission and 35 U.S. states that it overstated the value of its service. The FTC said on Tuesday the settlement bars LifeLock and its principals from making "deceptive claims" and requires the Tempe, Arizona-based company to take "more stringent measures" to safeguard the personal information of customers. The FTC said LifeLock has...

NEW YORK – The Federal Trade Commission is suing Intel Corp., accusing the world's biggest chip maker of using its size to snuff out competition. The FTC says Intel, which makes the microprocessors that run personal computers, has shut rivals out of the marketplace. In the process, the FTC says Intel has deprived consumers of choice and stifled innovation in the chip industry. Intel has faced similar charges for years and has denied any wrongdoing. The lawsuit comes after a recent $1.25 billion settlement with rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. over similar claims.

WASHINGTON –The head of the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday the agency will study whether government should aid struggling news organizations, which are suffering from a collapse in advertising revenues as the internet upends their centuries-old business model. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz's comments came during day one of a two-day "workshop" sponsored by the agency that became a forum for arguments among the heads of a diverse array of news organizations over the future of journalism. Mr. Leibowitz said his agency will examine whether government should change the way the industry is regulated, from making news-gathering companies exempt from antitrust...

Disney's Sorry It Couldn't Make Your Kid Smarter Blame Disney for your kid's poor test scores. The giant entertainment conglomerate Friday said it will offer refunds on its "Baby Einstein" serious of videos, conceding in a lawsuit that the video exercises didn't increase infants' intelligence despite claims it would. Lawyers threatened Disney last year that it would sue unless Disney offered a full refund -- $15.99 per video -- to customers who wished to cash in on their "Baby Einstein" stash, the New York Times reported Friday. Customers can get a discount coupon, exchange the video for a different title,...

Can you do journalism and not be a "journalist"? Do people declared "journalists" get special speech and press rights that other American citizens do not enjoy? Can anyone enjoy the right to free speech and free publication, even if that individual is not a full-time professional reporter? These are some of the important legal questions that American politicians and bureaucrats must confront now that the Internet has made possible for people other than employees of major media companies to reach large and widespread audiences. In recent weeks, federal officials seems to be favoring a view that certain individuals enjoy more...

Bloggers of the world, relax - the Federal Trade Commission is not out to get you. That was the message from Mary Engle, associate director for advertising practices at the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

The Federal Trade Commission just released rules to regulate product endorsements not just in advertisements but also on blogs. It is a monument to unintended consequence, hidden dangers, and dangerous assumptions. Mind you, I hate one of its apparent targets: Pay Per Post and its ilk, which attempt to co-opt the voice of bloggers. But I hate government regulation of speech more. And mind you, I am all in favor of transparency; I disclose to a comic fault here. I think that openness is the best fix for questions of trust and advise companies and politicians and certainly governments to...

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission issued an 81 page document entitled “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” requiring bloggers who write testimonials about products to disclose gifts or payments they receive. So if a company sends you a dollar-store toy, you will be scrutinized by the government, regardless whether you were asked to post a review or not. Whether it be free review copies of books, trips to oil rigs, payments, t-shirts, whatever it is, you better disclose it, to Uncle Sam, or, as the Washington Post reports, you’ll be fined up to $11,000 in fines...

It all sounds so innocent and good-governmenty: The Federal Trade Commission will hold a workshop Dec. 1 and 2 concerning "How will journalism survive the Internet age?" An assembly of editors, owners, government officials, consumer advocates, advertisers and others is scheduled to discuss a dozen topics. Three ought to make the hair stand up on the necks of every journalist and anybody else who cares about the survival of freedom of the press: » Are new or changed government policies needed to support optimal amounts and types of journalism, including public affairs coverage? » Should the tax code be modified...

The Federal Trade Commission has decided to focus its regulatory sights on the scourge of — product reviews by bloggers. By a unanimous vote, the FTC now mandates that bloggers disclose any payments or freebies received for their reviews, a mandate which does not appear to have an analog with mainstream media organizations: The Federal Trade Commission will require bloggers to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products. It is the first time since 1980 that the commission has revised its guidelines on endorsements and testimonials, and the first time the rules have...

The federal government is preparing an inquiry into the endangered field of news and reporting -- and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz is dropping some broad hints about what will be in it. In an exclusive interview with TheWrap, Leibowitz expressed some sympathy to easing antitrust enforcement of media consolidations to prevent more newspapers from folding or further declines in TV news staffs. He also said the FTC intends not just throw out a lifeline. He wants to ensure that media companies are doing a good enough job finding alternative revenues. Some media critics contend that at least part...

In today's "Truly Delicious Irony" segment, the Federal Trade Commission, just months after so-called journalists decided who should win a presidential primary and subsequent election, is going to begin going after bloggers who make false claims about products and/or don't fully disclose conflicts of interest. Imagine that. As reported by the Associated Press Sunday: New guidelines, expected to be approved late this summer with possible modifications, would clarify that the agency can go after bloggers — as well as the companies that compensate them — for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest. It would be the...

You answer the phone, and it's a recorded message: "By now you should have received your written note regarding your vehicle warranty expiring. This call is to give you a final opportunity to extend coverage before it is too late. Press '1' now to speak to a warranty specialist regarding your options on your vehicle." Upon pressing "1," you are transferred to a "warranty specialist" who lies to you, telling you he is affiliated with an automobile dealer or manufacturer and that your warranty is up. And before long, you may have agreed to put $450 down on an extended...

The FTC pulled the plug on the Cutwail botnet by shutting down Internet Service Provider Pricewert LLC when the agency filed a complaint Thursday alleging that it actively and knowingly participated in the distribution of child pornography, spam and malware. Security experts say that the Cutwait botnet was one of the most notorious botnets, accounting for up to 35 percent of global spam levels in May, security experts said. The FTC issued a complaint accusing the San Jose-based Pricewert, also known as 3FN and APS Telecom, of actively recruiting and colluding with criminals that sought to distribute illegal and malicious...

A federal judge has issued a pair of temporary restraining orders to halt what officials describe as a wave of "robo-calls" warning people their auto warranties are expiring and offering new service plans. U.S. District Judge John F. Grady issued a temporary restraining order against Transcontinental Warranty Inc. on Thursday and one against Voice Touch Inc. on Friday. The Federal Trade Commission filed suit against the companies in U.S. District Court in Chicago on Thursday. Chairman Jon Leibowitz says the FTC "has disconnected the people responsible for so many of these annoying calls." Officials say Americans have gotten as many...

WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - Scam artists with sophisticated Web sites, some featuring photos of President Barack Obama, are offering to help consumers cash in on the new $787 billion economic stimulus package, the Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday.

In November, the unemployment rate hit a 14-year high of 6.7 percent. For people who prey on unemployed workers, the high jobless rate is an opportunity to scam vulnerable job seekers out of their money and personal data. Scam artists know that when times get rough and bills are due, even the most sophisticated job hunters can fall prey to their employment schemes. That's why all job seekers should educate themselves about job scams. Many involve either work-from-home projects or online jobs. The ads are enticing: "Earn $200 a day just by clicking a mouse." "Make $50 to $250 an...

Melamine Found in Chocolate Products From China South Korea's food watchdog has detected quantities of melamine, an industrial chemical, in chocolate products from foodstuff giants Nestle SA, Mars Inc. and South Korea's Lotte that were manufactured in China, Yonhap News reported Saturday. The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) said 2.38 parts per million (ppm) and 1.78 ppm of the toxic substance was discovered in samples of M&M's Milk and Peanut Snickers Fun Size products, respectively, from Mars Korea. A Kit Kat bar from Nestle Korea was also found to contain 2.89 ppm of melamine, the agency said. The...

Excerpt - Responding to a wave of consumer complaints, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it will bar telemarketers from making prerecorded sales calls unless a consumer explicitly agrees to receive such calls. The FTC also will require all recorded sales calls to provide an opt-out feature to allow consumers to place themselves on the caller's do-not-call list immediately. ~ snip ~