Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, PRIVACY NEWS: Vulcan settles FTC charges it deceptively installed apps on Android devices without users’ permission, (Feb 5, 2016)

Technology company General Workings Inc., doing business as Vulcun, and its founders and officers Ali Moiz and Murtaza Hussein, have entered into a consent agreement with the FTC after being charged with unfairly replacing a popular web browser game with a program that installed applications on users’ mobile devices without their permission, the FTC announced today.

The FTC complaint charges Vulcan with purchasing the popular Chrome browser extension game Running Fred and replacing it with an extension that purported to offer users independent and unbiased Android app recommendations, but which actually bypassed the permissions process in the Android operating system to install Vulcan's own applications on the consumers' devices without their permission.

The extension installed by Vulcun caused a number of consumers to complain to Google, the owner of both Chrome and Android, according to the FTC. Some complained that the browser extension was opening multiple tabs and windows on their browser advertising various apps. Others complained about the installation of apps on their mobile device without their permission, noting that the apps would reinstall themselves even when deleted.

The FTC’s complaint alleges that Vulcun’s actions unfairly put consumers’ privacy at risk. By bypassing the permissions process in the Android operating system, the apps placed on consumers’ mobile devices also could have easily accessed users’ address books, photos, location, and device identifiers. Indeed, once installed, the apps could have gained further access to even more sensitive data by using their own malicious code, according to the complaint.

Under the terms of the settlement, the defendants will be required to tell consumers about the types of information a product or service will access and how it will be used, display any built-in permissions notice associated with installing a product or service, and get users express affirmative consent before the installation or material change of a product or service.

In addition, the settlement prohibits the defendants from misrepresenting to consumers whether their products have been endorsed by a third party or been covered by the media, how consumers’ personal information is collected and used, the level of control consumers’ might have over the collection, use or sharing of their data, or the extent to which the defendants maintain the privacy or security of information collected from consumers.

“After Vulcun acquired the Running Fred game, they used it to install a different app, commandeer people’s computers, and bombard them with ads,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “We’re very pleased we were able to stop these practices.”

Companies: General Workings Inc.

News: Privacy FederalTradeCommissionNews