CafePress; Analysis of Proposed Consent Orders To Aid Public Comment
| Published date | 22 March 2022 |
| Citation | 87 FR 16187 |
| Record Number | 2022-06022 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Federal Trade Commission |
Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 55 (Tuesday, March 22, 2022)
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 22, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16187-16189]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-06022]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 192 3209]
CafePress; Analysis of Proposed Consent Orders To Aid Public
Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed consent agreement; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The consent agreements in this matter settle alleged
violations of Federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. The attached Analysis of Proposed Consent Orders to Aid
Public Comment describes both the allegations in the draft complaint
and the terms of the consent orders--embodied in the consent
agreements--that would settle these allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 21, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file comments online or on paper by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Please write ``CafePress; File
No. 192 3209'' on your comment and file your comment online at https://www.regulations.gov by following the instructions on the web-based
form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, mail your comment to
the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the
Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex D),
Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center,
400 7th Street SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC
20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mohammed Aijaz (214-979-9386), Federal
Trade Commission Southwest Region, 1999 Bryan Street, Suite 2150,
Dallas, TX 75201-6808.
[[Page 16188]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34,
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreements
containing consent orders to cease and desist, having been filed with
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, have been
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the
consent agreements and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained
at https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/commission-actions.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before April 21, 2022.
Write ``CafePress; File No. 192 3209'' on your comment. Your comment--
including your name and your state--will be placed on the public record
of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the
https://www.regulations.gov website.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the agency's heightened security
screening, postal mail addressed to the Commission will be subject to
delay. We strongly encourage you to submit your comments online through
the https://www.regulations.gov website.
If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``CafePress;
File No. 192 3209'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail your
comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of
the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex D),
Washington, DC 20580; or deliver your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center,
400 7th Street SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC
20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by
courier or overnight service.
Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible
website at https://www.regulations.gov, you are solely responsible for
making sure your comment does not include any sensitive or confidential
information. In particular, your comment should not include sensitive
personal information, such as your or anyone else's Social Security
number; date of birth; driver's license number or other state
identification number, or foreign country equivalent; passport number;
financial account number; or credit or debit card number. You are also
solely responsible for making sure your comment does not include
sensitive health information, such as medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, your comment
should not include any ``trade secret or any commercial or financial
information which . . . is privileged or confidential''--as provided by
Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2),
16 CFR 4.10(a)(2)--including in particular competitively sensitive
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas,
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is
requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled
``Confidential,'' and must comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
In particular, the written request for confidential treatment that
accompanies the comment must include the factual and legal basis for
the request and must identify the specific portions of the comment to
be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 4.9(c). Your comment
will be kept confidential only if the General Counsel grants your
request in accordance with the law and the public interest. Once your
comment has been posted on the https://www.regulations.gov website--as
legally required by FTC Rule 4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove your
comment from that website, unless you submit a confidentiality request
that meets the requirements for such treatment under FTC Rule 4.9(c),
and the General Counsel grants that request.
Visit the FTC website at https://www.ftc.gov to read this Notice
and the news release describing the proposed settlement. The FTC Act
and other laws that the Commission administers permit the collection of
public comments to consider and use in this proceeding, as appropriate.
The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments
that it receives on or before April 21, 2022. For information on the
Commission's privacy policy, including routine uses permitted by the
Privacy Act, see https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'') has accepted, subject
to final approval, agreements containing consent orders from Residual
Pumpkin Entity, LLC (``Residual Pumpkin'') and PlanetArt, LLC
(``PlanetArt'') (collectively, ``Respondents'').
The proposed consent orders (``Proposed Orders'') have been placed
on the public record for thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by
interested persons. Comments received during this period will become
part of the public record. After thirty (30) days, the Commission will
again review the agreements and the comments received and will decide
whether it should withdraw from the agreements and take appropriate
action or make final the Proposed Orders.
This matter involves Respondents' data security and privacy
practices. Respondent Residual Pumpkin owned CafePress until September
2020, when Residual Pumpkin sold CafePress to Respondent PlanetArt. The
CafePress website allows users, known as shopkeepers, to earn
commissions from sales of merchandise offered to consumers. CafePress
collected information such as names, email addresses, telephone numbers
and--from shopkeepers--Social Security numbers (``Personal
Information''). CafePress claimed to keep this information safe, but in
fact failed to provide reasonable security. For example, CafePress
failed to: Guard against well-known and reasonably foreseeable threats,
such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting attacks; encrypt Social
Security numbers; and implement a process for receiving and addressing
third-party security vulnerability reports. CafePress also claimed to
adhere to principles set forth in the EU-U.S. and Swiss U.S. Privacy
Shield frameworks, specifically that it would honor user requests to
delete data and user choices about how email addresses would be used.
Instead, CafePress failed to delete Personal Information when it was
requested to do so and sent marketing emails to nearly all its
consumers, even those who had not opted in to receive such messages. As
a result of CafePress' data security practices, consumers' Personal
Information was stolen and sold on the dark web. CafePress learned of
the breach but failed to notify affected consumers. After some
shopkeepers learned of the breach and closed their accounts, CafePress
withheld up to $25 in payable commissions from each of those
shopkeepers.
The complaint alleges that Respondents violated Section 5(a) of the
FTC Act by: (1) Misrepresenting the measures CafePress took to protect
Personal Information; (2) misrepresenting the steps CafePress took to
secure consumer accounts following security incidents; (3) failing to
employ reasonable data security practices; (4) misrepresenting how
CafePress would use email addresses; (5) misrepresenting CafePress's
adherence to the Privacy
[[Page 16189]]
Shield frameworks; (6) misrepresenting whether CafePress would honor
deletion requests; and (7) unfairly withholding commissions payable to
shopkeepers.
The Proposed Orders contain provisions designed to prevent
Respondents from engaging in the same or similar acts or practices in
the future.
Summary of Proposed Order With Residual Pumpkin
Part I prohibits Residual Pumpkin from misrepresenting: (1) Privacy
and security measures it takes to prevent unauthorized access to
Personal Information; (2) the extent to which Residual Pumpkin is a
member of any privacy or security program sponsored by a government,
self-regulatory, or standard-setting organization; (3) privacy and
security measures to honor users' privacy choices; (4) information
deletion and retention practices; and (5) the extent to which it
maintains and protects the privacy, security, availability,
confidentiality, or integrity of Personal Information.
Part II requires Residual Pumpkin to establish and implement, and
thereafter maintain, a comprehensive information security program
(``Security Program'') that protects the privacy, security,
confidentiality, and integrity of Personal Information. Part III
requires Residual Pumpkin to obtain initial and biennial data security
assessments for 20 years. Part IV requires Residual Pumpkin to disclose
all material facts to the assessor and prohibits Residual Pumpkin from
misrepresenting any fact material to the assessment required by Part
II. Part V requires Residual Pumpkin to submit an annual certification
from a senior corporate manager (or senior officer responsible for its
Security Program) that Residual Pumpkin has implemented the
requirements of the order and is not aware of any material
noncompliance that has not been corrected or disclosed to the
Commission. Part VI requires Residual Pumpkin to notify the Commission
of a ``Covered Incident'' within thirty days of discovering such
incident.
Parts VII and VIII require Residual Pumpkin to pay to the
Commission $500,000 and describe the procedures and legal rights
related to that payment. Part IX requires Residual Pumpkin to provide
customer information to enable the Commission to administer consumer
redress. Part X requires Residual Pumpkin to submit an acknowledgement
of receipt of the order, including all officers or directors and
employees having managerial responsibilities for conduct related to the
subject matter of the order, and to obtain acknowledgements from each
individual or entity to which a Residual Pumpkin has delivered a copy
of the order.
Part XI requires Residual Pumpkin to file compliance reports with
the Commission and to notify the Commission of bankruptcy filings or
changes in corporate structure that might affect compliance
obligations. Part XII contains recordkeeping requirements for
accounting records, personnel records, consumer correspondence,
advertising and marketing materials, and claim substantiation, as well
as all records necessary to demonstrate compliance with the order. Part
XIII contains other requirements related to the Commission's monitoring
of Respondent's order compliance.
Part XIV provides the effective dates of the order, including that,
with exceptions, the order will terminate in twenty (20) years.
Summary of Proposed Order With PlanetArt
Part I prohibits PlanetArt from misrepresenting: (1) Privacy and
security measures it takes to prevent unauthorized access to Personal
Information; (2) the extent to which PlanetArt is a member of any
privacy or security program sponsored by a government, self-regulatory,
or standard-setting organization; (3) privacy and security measures to
honor users' privacy choices; (4) information deletion and retention
practices; and (5) the extent to which it maintains and protects the
privacy, security, availability, confidentiality, or integrity of
Personal Information.
Part II requires PlanetArt to establish and implement, and
thereafter maintain, a comprehensive information security program that
protects the privacy, security, confidentiality, and integrity of
Personal Information. Part III requires PlanetArt to obtain initial and
biennial data security assessments for 20 years. Part IV requires
PlanetArt to disclose all material facts to the assessor and prohibits
PlanetArt from misrepresenting any fact material to the assessment
required by Part II.
Part V requires PlanetArt to submit an annual certification from a
senior corporate manager (or senior officer responsible for its
Security Program) that PlanetArt has implemented the requirements of
the order and is not aware of any material noncompliance that has not
been corrected or disclosed to the Commission. Part VI requires
PlanetArt to notify the Commission of a ``Covered Incident'' within
thirty days of discovering such incident. Parts VII requires PlanetArt
to provide notice to consumers to inform them of the breach and the
settlement with the FTC.
Part VIII requires PlanetArt to submit an acknowledgement of
receipt of the order, including all officers or directors and employees
having managerial responsibilities for conduct related to the subject
matter of the order, and to obtain acknowledgements from each
individual or entity to which a PlanetArt has delivered a copy of the
order.
Part IX requires PlanetArt to file compliance reports with the
Commission and to notify the Commission of bankruptcy filings or
changes in corporate structure that might affect compliance
obligations. Part X contains recordkeeping requirements for accounting
records, personnel records, consumer correspondence, advertising and
marketing materials, and claim substantiation, as well as all records
necessary to demonstrate compliance with the order. Part XI contains
other requirements related to the Commission's monitoring of
PlanetArt's order compliance.
Part XII provides the effective dates of the order, including that,
with exceptions, the order will terminate in 20 years.
The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the
Proposed Orders, and it is not intended to constitute an official
interpretation of the complaint or Proposed Orders, or to modify the
Proposed Orders' terms in any way.
By direction of the Commission.
April J. Tabor,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-06022 Filed 3-21-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
