The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against Venntel and Gravy Analytics, Inc. for unlawfully tracking and selling private consumer information. The companies are banned from selling, disclosing, or using sensitive location data and must establish a sensitive data location program. Venntel’s customers include federal law enforcement agencies, and Gravy Analytics allegedly created virtual boundaries to identify and sell lists of consumers. The FTC alleges that the companies violated the FTC Act by collecting and selling consumer data without proper consent. The FTC believes this behavior puts consumers at risk of privacy harms, stigma, discrimination, violence, and other harms. Venntel and Gravy Analytics must ensure their clients do not use data to locate someone’s home or track people to political events, and are banned from collecting data from consumers who have opted out of targeted advertising. Each violation of the consent order could result in a $51,744 fine, and the final consent order could be approved after a 30-day public comment period. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also announced a proposed rule that would limit the sale of personal identifiers collected by certain companies and ensure that financial data such as income is only shared for legitimate purposes. This action is part of a broader effort to protect consumers’ privacy and data security.
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