The FTC’s proposed settlement with Wyndham Hotels for...
The FTC’s proposed settlement with Wyndham Hotels for data security violations should be scrapped, TechFreedom and the International Center for Law and Economics told the U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., asking for permission to file a friend-of-the-court brief (http://bit.ly/166bVBl).…
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“The FTC’s unfairness claim against Wyndham Hotels is unconstitutionally vague and inadequately pleaded, and, as such, should be dismissed by the Court,” said the two groups that often oppose regulation. The FTC brought a claim (WID June 7 p9) against Wyndham for its failure to “maintain reasonable security,” which made it possible for “intruders to obtain unauthorized access to the computer networks” of the company and several of its franchises on three occasions in less than two years, said the complaint (http://1.usa.gov/166evaj). The FTC has charged 17 companies with unfair trade practices for failure to have “reasonable data security” under its Section 5 FTC Act unfairness claim, all of which settled, said TechFreedom. That allowed the FTC to continue issuing complaints without setting forth guidance for what constitutes reasonable data security practices, TechFreedom said. The brief (http://bit.ly/18ipEUI) asked the court to “demand that the FTC develop the law of data security through rulemakings,” and to “require the FTC to plead claims with enough factual development to satisfy the general requirement of plausibility.” The brief asked the court to grant Wyndham’s motion to dismiss the case.