Latest news with #USFederalTradeCommission
Time of India
02-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
FTC seeks more information about SoftBank's Ampere deal: Report
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills The US Federal Trade Commission is seeking more details about SoftBank Group Corp's planned $6.5 billion purchase of semiconductor designer Ampere Computing , Bloomberg News reported on inquiry, known formally as a second request for information, suggests the acquisition may undergo an extended government review , the report announced the purchase of the startup in March, part of its efforts to ramp up its investments in artificial intelligence report did not state the reasoning for the FTC Ampere and the FTC did not immediately respond to a request for is an active investor in US tech. It is leading the financing for the $500 billion Stargate data centre project and has agreed to invest $32 billion in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.
New York Post
26-06-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Fortnite players ‘tricked' into unwanted purchases are being refunded — here's how to apply
PHILADELPHIA — The US Federal Trade Commission is sending out the latest round of refunds to consumers it says were 'tricked' into purchases they didn't want from Fortnite maker Epic Games — and eligible players who haven't been compensated yet still have time to apply. In an announcement this week, the FTC said it was distributing more than 969,000 refunds totaling over $126 million to consumers on Wednesday and Thursday. That follows the regulator's first round of payments amounting to more than $72 million, which went out in December 2024. The FTC is sending out payments to consumers who claim they were 'tricked' into making purchases in the video game Fortnite. marinv – The refunds are part of a $520 million settlement that Epic agreed to pay back in 2022 — to address complaints revolving around children's privacy and payment methods on its popular Fortnite video game. At the time, the FTC had alleged that the gaming giant used deceptive online design tactics to trick Fortnite players, including children, into making unintended purchases 'based on the press of a single button.' Consumers could be charged while doing something as simple as attempting the wake the game from sleep mode, for example, or by pressing a nearby button when trying to preview an item, the agency said. The FTC also accused Epic of blocking some users who disputed the charges from accessing the content they purchased. Beyond a $275 million fine related to collecting personal information for players under the age of 13, the settlement, which was finalized in 2023, included $245 million in customer refunds. Charlie Gasparino has his finger on the pulse of where business, politics and finance meet Sign up to receive On The Money by Charlie Gasparino in your inbox every Thursday. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Between December's payments and the refunds sent out this week, about $198 million of that has been sent out — leaving roughly $47 million left to be distributed. The latest refunds are being doled out to consumers who filed a valid claim before Feb. 14 — meaning that any claims filed after that date are still under review, according to the FTC. And the FTC also says it's reopening the claims process. Eligible consumers who have not been compensated yet now have until July 9 to file a claim. Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! If accepted, the refunds come in the form of checks or PayPal payments. To apply and learn more about the settlement, users should visit the FTC's website. People who are eligible for these payouts include Fortnite players who were charged in-game currency for items they didn't want or saw their account locked after complaining to a credit card company about wrongful charges between January 2017 and September 2022 — as well as parents whose kids made charges on their credit cards without their knowledge from January 2018 through November 2018. The Associated Press reached out to Epic for comment on Thursday. At the time the settlement was announced in December 2022, Epic said it accepted the agreement because it wanted 'to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players.' The Cary, North Carolina-based company added that it was already rolling out changes 'to ensure our ecosystem meets the expectations of our players and regulators, which we hope will be a helpful guide for others in our industry.'
Scoop
22-06-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Popular Period-Tracking Apps Can Hold Years Of Personal Data – New NZ Research Finds Mixed Awareness Of Risk
Period-tracking apps are popular digital tools for a range of menstrual, reproductive and general health purposes. But the way these apps collect and use data involves risk. Many apps encourage users to log information well beyond their menstrual cycle, including sexual activity, medications, sleep quality, exercise, social activity and perimenopause symptoms. As well as this logged data, apps often collect location and other personally identifiable information. Period tracking apps may pose a particularly high risk in places where abortion is illegal because user data may be accessed by law enforcement on request. Our new research examines how aware app users in Aotearoa New Zealand are of these risks. We found a range of levels of understanding and perspectives on risk, from untroubled to concerned and deeply worried about the implications of digital tracking for reproductive rights. Privacy, data and risk The first period-tracking app was released in 2013. Since then, hundreds of such apps have been created, with collectively hundreds of millions of downloads worldwide. A recent analysis found app downloads are particularly prevalent in North America, Europe, Australia and Aotearoa. The same study found three apps – Flo, Clue and Period Tracker – make up the majority of downloads. Some period apps can link to and import information from other apps and wearables. For example, Clue can link to and import information from the Oura smart ring and Apple Health, both of which gather personal health metrics. Flo can similarly import information from other health apps. A recent analysis of period app privacy policies found they often collect a range of personally identifiable information. Personal health data flows to third parties Some participants in our research have used an app for a decade or longer. This means the app holds a comprehensive database of years of intimate health data and other personal information, including some which they may not have chosen to provide. This data can be used by a range of third parties in commercial, research or other applications, sometimes without app users' explicit knowledge or consent. One study found many period apps exported more data than was declared in privacy policies, including to third parties. Another study reported that apps changed privacy policies without obtaining user consent. Apps can also infer sensitive information not explicitly logged by users by combining data. In 2021, Flo reached a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission on charges over its sharing of user data with marketing and analytics companies without user consent. App privacy policies often state that user data may be accessed by law enforcement on request, which is a major concern in places where abortion is illegal. Users may explicitly log the start and end of pregnancies, but pregnancy can also be inferred or predicted using other data. In some cases, period app data may therefore reveal a user's miscarriage or abortion. Making sense of the risk in New Zealand Our exploration of user attitudes about the risk of period-tracking apps has revealed that about half of participants were unconcerned about their data. Some imagined positive uses for their data, such as improving the app or contributing to reproductive healthcare research. These potential uses are often highlighted by period-tracking apps in marketing materials. Other participants were concerned about their data. Some had risk minimisation strategies, including limiting what information they logged. Concerned participants were often resigned to uncontrolled uses of their data. One said: [there's] no such thing as private data these days. Another thought that: everyone that does anything online […] is kind of accepting the fact that your data is being potentially accessed and used by third parties. It's just kind of where it is now. About a third of participants in our study contextualised their concerns with respect to reproductive rights and abortion access, especially since the 2022 overturn of Roe v Wade in the US. Others wondered if what happened in the US could happen in New Zealand. One participant referenced concepts such as rangatiratanga and mana motuhake (self determination) when thinking about period app data. She said: I worry about the politics that happen overseas coming here to Aotearoa […] knowing that I don't have full control or rangatiratanga over the data I provide. I worry for all users about what this information can be used for in future, as much as we like to say 'this is New Zealand, that would never happen here', we have no idea. With gender and reproductive rights at risk around the world, such concerns are reasonable and justified. Study participants used period-tracking apps for diverse reasons, including to plan for periods, to track pain and communicate it to doctors, to help get pregnant, and to learn about their bodies. Some participants told us that using period apps was empowering. Some perceived period apps as risky, with limits to how they can mitigate the risk. Menstruators shouldn't have to trade data privacy and security in order to access the benefits of period-tracking apps. Legislators and policy makers should understand the benefits and risks and ensure strong data protections are in place.
Business Times
21-06-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Walmart to pay US$10 million to settle US FTC lawsuit over money transfer fraud
[NEW YORK] Walmart has agreed to pay US$10 million to settle a US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) civil lawsuit accusing the world's largest retailer of ignoring warning signs that fraudsters used its money transfer services to fleece consumers out of hundreds of millions of US dollars. The settlement was filed on Friday (Jun 20) in Chicago federal court, and requires approval by US District judge Manish Shah. Walmart also agreed not to process money transfers it suspects are fraudulent, or help sellers and telemarketers it believes are using its services to commit fraud. 'Electronic money transfers are one of the most common ways that scammers tell consumers to send them money, because once it's sent, it's gone for good,' said Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC's consumer protection bureau. 'Companies that provide these services must train their employees to comply with the law and work to protect consumers.' The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer did not admit or deny wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. Walmart said that it was pleased to settle and shared the FTC's goal of protecting consumers from fraudsters, including from fraud-induced money transfers. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up In its June 2022 complaint, the FTC accused Walmart of turning a blind eye to fraudsters who used its money transfer services to cash out at its stores. Walmart acts as an agent for money transfers by companies such as MoneyGram, Ria and Western Union. Money can be hard to trace once delivered. The FTC said fraudsters used many schemes that included impersonating Internal Revenue Service agents, impersonating family members who needed money from grandparents to avoid jail, and telling victims they won lotteries or sweepstakes but owed fees to collect their winnings. Shah dismissed part of the FTC case last July but let the regulator pursue the remainder. Walmart appealed from that decision. Friday's settlement would end the appeal. REUTERS
Fashion Network
06-06-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Trump tariffs put pressure on Harris Tweed makers and luxury supply chain
Harris Tweed, the centuries-old fabric woven by islanders in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, faces new global headwinds. Trump-era tariffs on wool imports are raising costs for textiles prized by luxury fashion houses worldwide. In December 1957, Reverend Murdoch MacRae travelled from his parish on Lewis and Harris, one of the Outer Hebridean islands off the northwest coast of mainland Scotland, across the Atlantic to confront the US Federal Trade Commission in Washington. At the time, President Dwight D. Eisenhower's tariffs on woollen imports threatened to trigger an exodus of island workers whose livelihoods depended on producing hand-woven tweed jackets, trousers and caps—garments long cherished by Americans, from Wall Street bankers to the Kennedys and Hollywood actors. MacRae's mission to protect the islanders from US protectionism ultimately succeeded. Yet nearly 70 years later, his achievement is being undermined by the trade policies of another figure with Hebridean roots: Donald Trump. 'Trump might portray himself as a man of Scottish heritage; he might have used the family Bible at his inauguration,' says Iain Martin, a fourth-generation weaver, but 'that man doesn't care. He's out for himself, nobody else.' Martin is one of just 150 weavers of Harris Tweed, a fabric made from coarse, woven wool. It has been his life. He started winding bobbins—a now semi-automated part of the process essential for loading yarn onto the loom—when he was five. Now, at age 57, he weaves about 8,000 meters of tweed each year, in addition to managing a 15-acre farm and caring for 600 sheep. He still uses a loom purchased by his grandfather in 1926, housed in a workshop alongside his own stack of family Bibles, a collection of colourful bobbins and a heavy blanket hand-woven by his grandmother. The distinctive diagonal-patterned Harris Tweed, unique to the Hebrides, has become part of the collateral damage caused by the US president's sweeping tariffs on global trade, measures he defends as necessary to protect American jobs. Though tweed exports are small compared to the £59.3 billion total value of UK goods shipped to the US, the island's crofters and weavers still face the same 10% tariff rate imposed on much larger exporters, even after Trump's deal with the UK government reduced levies for some other sectors. They now compete under the same terms as major companies such as automaker Jaguar Land Rover Ltd, Diageo Plc, the consumer products group, and fashion brand Burberry Group Plc. Islanders warn, as MacRae did seven decades ago, that these tariffs threaten a way of life rooted in the 18th century, on remote islands that today are home to around 26,000 people—most of them living on Lewis and Harris. The US president's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was once one of those islanders. She grew up in Lewis before emigrating to New York at age 17 in 1930. 'A lot of islanders go to work elsewhere and they never return home, but for people like me, crofting, weaving—it's in the blood,' says Martin. 'That's what draws me to keeping these traditions alive.' Nike sparks a tweed renaissance A 1993 British act of Parliament protects the manufacture of Harris Tweed, stipulating that producers must use pure sheep's wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides, weave it by hand at home and finish it in the Western Isles. They then export the fabric to around 55 countries—the US, France, Germany, Italy and Japan are the biggest markets—where designers use it in everything from luxury suits to sneakers and even whisky flasks. The industry has long been sensitive to the whims of American buyers, whose preferences have had an outsized impact on the sector. In the post-war era, purchasing a tailored tweed suit was a rite of passage for many young men. However, when US consumers turned away from wool in favour of lighter fabrics in the 1980s, Hebridean tweed-makers experienced a sharp downturn. Years later, a limited-edition tweed sneaker by Nike Inc. introduced the fabric to a younger audience, sparking a renaissance in the 2000s. The once-derelict Shawbost mill, dating back to the 1920s, was reborn as Harris Tweed Hebrides Ltd. in 2007 to capture some of that renewed US interest. Now the largest of the island's three mills and its biggest private-sector employer, the company generated a turnover of around £9 million in 2023, according to company filings. The US remains its top export market. Approximately 1 million meters of the fabric are produced annually, with the Shawbost mill accounting for about 65% of that total and supplying international brands such as Ralph Lauren Corp., Brooks Brothers and Christian Dior SE. Margaret Ann Macleod, chief executive officer of Harris Tweed Hebrides, describes the 10% tariff as 'hugely concerning,' particularly as it comes on top of higher employment taxes in the UK and against a backdrop of slowing global luxury demand. Demand for the fabric also risks being affected by the high levies the Trump administration imposed on European Union exports. Although the tariffs do not directly impact the Hebridean mills, any increase in the final retail price of garments made with Harris Tweed could prompt US clients to reconsider using the fabric. Last week, the US Court of International Trade declared the Trump tariffs illegal. However, a successful appeal by the White House has delayed a final decision, leaving those affected by the measures still awaiting clarity. 'The worst thing for buyers is being unsure,' Macleod says. 'When there are unknown costs that we can't quantify, it can make the difference between them selecting a British heritage textile or not. They may choose to delay that purchase, reduce the quantity or opt out entirely.' About 15% of Harris Tweed Hebrides' annual fabric production is already sold to Asian clients. The mill is now working to strengthen ties with markets such as South Korea—its fastest-growing market—and Japan, which Macleod will visit later this year as part of a British trade delegation. The company is also reviewing its prices—the cloth retails at £55 per meter for individual consumers—in response to the tariffs. Yet quickly pivoting to new markets is not easy for a 'slow fashion' business, where completing an order can take up to three months. The industry must also step up efforts to combat counterfeiting and raise brand awareness in newer markets like China. 'We're not going to offshore production; we legally cannot do that even if we wanted to,' says Calum Iain Maciver, interim chief executive officer of the Harris Tweed Authority, a statutory body responsible for protecting the cloth's reputation. 'Returning manufacturing plants to the USA is Trump's goal, but so many industries are caught up in that. It's quite a blunt instrument to try to solve a domestic American problem; it really is a sledgehammer.' From the sheep to the shop Producing Harris Tweed is a complex, months-long process that begins with bales of blended pure sheep wool sourced from across the UK, not just the Hebrides. Millworkers dye the wool fibres using one of 60 base colours and then spin them to achieve the fabric's rich hues. They weigh and blend different colored wools according to precise recipes created by the mill's designer to produce a wide range of shades. Next, they send the wool through carding—a mechanical combing process that disentangles and mixes the fibers—creating a candy-floss-like yarn in shades ranging from pinkish red to soft brown or earthy green. Workers then spin the yarn to strengthen it, preparing it to be wound onto bobbins. They arrange thousands of warp threads—a term derived from the Old Norse varp, meaning 'the cast of a net'—side by side lengthwise on the fabric. They then separate the threads into parallel strips and wind them onto a large beam. The mill delivers the prepared yarn and a pattern card to one of the island's self-employed weavers. The weaver introduces the weft colours—the horizontal threads woven through the warp—that create the fabric's distinctive zigzag pattern. After weaving, the mill washes, dries, steam-presses and crops the cloth before preparing it for inspection. If the cloth meets quality standards, the mill stamps it with the Orb certification mark of the Harris Tweed Authority (HTA) and readies it for export. This intricate process employs 300 millworkers and weavers, many of whom live in remote villages across the island. The HTA estimates that the sector also indirectly supports another 100 jobs in restaurants, bars and shops, along with about 1,000 registered local artisans who use Harris Tweed fabric to create and sell clothing and small accessories. 'Harris Tweed is literally woven into the community,' says Macleod. 'The economic fortunes of the islanders have always depended on the sector.' Retailers selling Harris Tweed garments, such as Peter Christian—a £10 million British tailoring brand—are already adapting to the new tariff regime. With US customers accounting for nearly 70% of its tweed suit sales, the company offered a 10% discount labelled 'reverse tariffs' in early April and scaled back advertising at the start of 2025 after a slowdown in US sales growth that predated Trump's measures. Tweed also supports the islands' £75 million tourism sector. Stornoway welcomed a record 57,000 cruise ship passengers last year. Many of these visitors tour weavers' workshops, where they learn about crofting and the craftsmanship behind Harris Tweed. They also dine in local restaurants and pubs and purchase Harris Tweed jackets or small souvenirs, such as pouches, key chains and hats. For now, says the HTA's Maciver, lobbying Washington as MacRae did in 1957 would be pointless given the current 'uncertainty and movement' surrounding the tariffs. Miriam Hamilton, 32, a weaver in Crossbost, a picturesque village 10 miles from Stornoway, says she does not plan to lower her prices to offset the higher tariffs for US customers. 'I can't absorb the extra costs,' she says.
