Why does the trial drag on for more than a year when everything is so obvious?
An Idaho federal court has disclosed a complaint from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that Kochava, an active data broker, illegally obtains and sells vast amounts of highly sensitive consumer information, including their mobile device IDs, annual revenue, app usage, and geolocation with an accuracy of 10 meters in near real time.
The court also rejected Kochava's request to impose sanctions on FTC lawyers, emphasizing the existence of evidence in favor of the agency's claims, which allowed the case to move on.
In August 2022, the FTC filed an initial complaint alleging that Kochava's business practices violated section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits companies from using dishonest or deceptive methods.
In May 2023, a judge ruled that the FTC did not provide enough evidence in its complaint, but gave the agency the opportunity to gather more evidence and file an amended complaint later. An updated complaint was filed in June of this year.
The FTC alleges that Kochava collects and sells unencrypted individual home addresses of individuals, their phone numbers, email addresses, gender, age, ethnicity, annual income, economic stability, marital status, education level, political affiliation, interests, and behavior.
If such an extensive list of data falls into the hands of detractors, the real safety of people may be at risk. The court's decision on November 3 to disclose the complaint and deny sanctions against the FTC is considered an encouraging turn for the Federal Trade Commission and gives hope for an early "closure of the shop" of trading in user information.
The fast-growing data broker industry is under increasing scrutiny due to the collection of extremely sensitive data on an increasing number of consumers. John Davisson, director of litigation at the Data Privacy Information Center, expressed cautious optimism that the disclosed complaint will convince the court of the seriousness of the privacy violations that Kochava regularly inflicts on consumers.
Meanwhile, Kochava has not yet responded to requests for comment, and the media page of the company's website has not yet had a press release regarding the FTC's claims.
An Idaho federal court has disclosed a complaint from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that Kochava, an active data broker, illegally obtains and sells vast amounts of highly sensitive consumer information, including their mobile device IDs, annual revenue, app usage, and geolocation with an accuracy of 10 meters in near real time.
The court also rejected Kochava's request to impose sanctions on FTC lawyers, emphasizing the existence of evidence in favor of the agency's claims, which allowed the case to move on.
In August 2022, the FTC filed an initial complaint alleging that Kochava's business practices violated section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits companies from using dishonest or deceptive methods.
In May 2023, a judge ruled that the FTC did not provide enough evidence in its complaint, but gave the agency the opportunity to gather more evidence and file an amended complaint later. An updated complaint was filed in June of this year.
The FTC alleges that Kochava collects and sells unencrypted individual home addresses of individuals, their phone numbers, email addresses, gender, age, ethnicity, annual income, economic stability, marital status, education level, political affiliation, interests, and behavior.
If such an extensive list of data falls into the hands of detractors, the real safety of people may be at risk. The court's decision on November 3 to disclose the complaint and deny sanctions against the FTC is considered an encouraging turn for the Federal Trade Commission and gives hope for an early "closure of the shop" of trading in user information.
The fast-growing data broker industry is under increasing scrutiny due to the collection of extremely sensitive data on an increasing number of consumers. John Davisson, director of litigation at the Data Privacy Information Center, expressed cautious optimism that the disclosed complaint will convince the court of the seriousness of the privacy violations that Kochava regularly inflicts on consumers.
Meanwhile, Kochava has not yet responded to requests for comment, and the media page of the company's website has not yet had a press release regarding the FTC's claims.
